A 

DIARY IN THE EAST, 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, 
MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C. 



A 

DIARY IN THE EAST 



DURING THE TOUR 



PRINCE AND PRINCESS OE WALES. 



WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL. 

ii 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



SECOND EDITION. 




LONDON : 

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS. 

THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. 
1869. 



TO HER EOYAE 

THE PKINOESS 



HIGHNESS 

OP WALES. 



Madam, 

The gracious permission I have received from. 70-01' 
Royal Highness to dedicate this Yolnme to yon, canses me 
to feel regret that it is not more worthy of that great 
honour ; bnt I trnst that the goodness which indnced yonr 
Royal Highness to confer snch a favour on the Work, will 
lead yon to regard with an indulgent eye this Record of the 

interesting Tour in part of which I accompanied the Prince 
of Wales. 

I am, Madam, with profound respect, , 
Your Royal Highness' s 
Most faithful, obliged, and humble Servant, 

WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL- 



TO THE BEADEB. 



It will be seen from the concluding paragraph of 
the Preface, that I intended to include in this work 
a chapter on the Nile Basin and on the Suez Canal 
from a scientific point of view, as well as some obser- 
vations on the Ornithology and Natural History of 
Egypt, for which I would have been indebted to 
Professor Owen and others. 

The size of the volume has, however, far execeded 
my original design, and I am obliged, very unwil- 
lingly, to omit the contributions to which the Preface 
refers. 

W. H. BUSSELL. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface 1 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure of the Prince and Princess from London — Paris — At 
Compiegne — A daj's shooting — On board the Freya — Stock- 
holm — Fredensborg — Arrival at Hamburgh — Departure of 
the Royal children — Order of the Black Eagle — Arrival at 
Vienna — Skating at Vienna — Departure of the Ariadne — 
Reception at Alexandria — Cairo ...... 8 



CHAPTER II. 

Modern travelling — The Mont Cenis route — St. Michel — The 
trout of Mont Cenis — A haze of neuralgia — The friend of 
Garibaldi — A dirty place — Juvenile labourers — Brindisi — 
The harbour — Ad Brundusii gloriam — Ionian fishermen — 
The gregale — "Malta mafeesh ! "— Sea talk — The welcome — 
Alexandria — The Consular tribunals — Reception at Cairo — 
Our residence . . . ... . . • .22 



CHAPTER III. 

A Cairo dejeuner — Haussmannization of Cairo — The Nile Flotilla 
— The Arsenal — Visit to the Viceroy — A difficult start — 
Ophthalmia — The sugar-cane season — In the streets — Looks 
and words — Boulak — Wild ducks — The Grand Barrage of 
the Nile — A peaceful scene — An intrenched camp — The inevi- 
table lunch — The Professor and the ass — In equilibrium — 
A sunset in Cairo 43 



X 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PAGE 

Tewfik Pasha— Departure for Isrnailia— The Cairo station— M. de 
Lesseps — Ismailia— Lake Timsah — Port Said — A view from 
tlie lighthouse — The town and its resources — Lake Men- 
zaleh — The Desert smiles — Departure from Port Said — 
Back to Ismaiha — Departure for Suez — Sheik Ennedek's 
tomb — The great dredges — Strange, fish — Chalouf— Old and 
new canals — The great cuttings — Suez in sighc — On the 
Red Sea — Works at Suez — The docks — Port Ibrahim — 
Troops from India — Arrival in Cairo — General impres- 
sions . . 67 



CHAPTER V. 

Hekekyan Bey — The Bey's theories — A Cairene interior — Volun- 
tary slavery — The Museum at Boulak — Egyptian philosophy 
— A false alarm — Egyptian barracks — Egyptian soldiers — The 
preparations — Kasr- el-Nil — The Royal squadron — The Con- 
sular tribunals — The plague of Egypt — The Royal approach — 
Arrival at the Palace — The Esbekiah Palace — The Cairo 
Theatre — The Harem boxes — Street Arabs — Smiting the 
Egyptians — The Mecca pilgrimage — Mahmal and Kisweh — 
Route to the Citadel — The bazaars — Women in the streets — 
The crowd — The Citadel — The procession — The revolving 
head — The chief of the caravan — The procession in the streets 
— The pilgrims — Egyptian troops — The end — Donkey 
riding — The new Palace — Dancing dervishes — The Cairo 
Grisi — Ameahs 97 



CHAPTER VI. 

Departure from Cairo — The flotilla — The start — The Nile near 
Cairo — The quarries — The tourists— Ruins and sights — A 
false alarm — Our crew and company — The first halt — The 
bagpipes — The first night — Nile scenery — The warning voices 
— The hippopotamus — Benisoueff — Hamed — The natives — 
The bazaar — A school — Voluntary slavery — Infant slavery — 
The weather — Wind and dust — Feshn — Sheik Fodl — Mummy 
dogs — Coptic clergymen — Coptic convent— The Church in 
Egypt — Sport on the river — Minieh — Sugar factory — Sugar 
manufacture — The tomato merchant — The telegraph in Egypt 138 



CONTENTS, 



xi 



CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

Beni Hassan — The grottoes — The pictures on the walls — Writings 
on the walls — An incubus — A small incident — Dolce far 
niente — Birds and beasts — Egyptian poor laws — Labour in 
vain — Drawing a blank — Land slips — The water-carriers — 
Birds on the banks — Manfaloot — Sioot — The jereed — The 
city — Course of the river — No crocodiles — The stuffing box — 
Pigeons 176 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Gebel Hareedi — Souhadj — Misneah and Girgeh — Good behaviour 
Native notions — Italian domestics — Crocodiles — Keneh — An 
escape — The donkey boys — -The Enlevement — The fantasia — 
The watchman — An Almeah — Dendera — The ruins — Turks 
and bees — Coptos — Shooting 199 



CHAPTER IX. 

Hamed — Hippopotamus Johnny — The discovery — Luxor — Mus- 
tapha Aga — Karnak — The procession — Avenue of Sphinxes 
— Rameses his temple — The learned Lepsius — The great 
hall — The sanctuary — Exploring — Rest in the ruins — 
Rameses II. — The obelisk — Night at Luxor. — The tombs of 
the Kings — A genuine antique — Bab-el-Molook — Osiri's bed 
— Bruce's tomb — Epiphany's nil admirari — The witching 
hour — The return — Mummy pits — The decay of ruins — 
Pharaoh now and then — A night surprise — The illuminations 
— The halls of dazzling light — The return to the ship . .219 



CHAPTER X. 

Leave Thebes — The citizens — The temple — Leave Esne — Abab- 
deh Arabs — Temple of Edfou — Hard aground — Our Royal 
dinner — Ovis ammon — Assouan — The reception — A tragedy 
on the Nile — The impending separation — River scenes — 
The start for Philse — A trying position — Shooting the rapids — 
The Island of Philse — Inscriptions — Farewell banquet — Pre- 
parations — The separation . . . . • " • • 252 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

PAGE 

A dilemma— Lady Duff Gordon— The telegraph and the tourists— 
A slight mistake — Karnak again — Keneh — Nile swimmers — 
Sand-banks— Fellaheen— Village police— A judgment — Mid- 
night musketry — Two obstinate animals — Abydus abandoned — 
A fly-phylactic — Souhadj — Nile emigrants — An order for tur- 
keys— Teme 275 



CHAPTER XII. 

AH Captan — Off and on again — Incidents of Nile travel — A 
victory — The conquering Mudir — Children of Ishmael — An 
adventure — Forcing the pass — The storming of Sioot — A 
Sioot Cerito — An Egyptian special — A Cairo concert — The 
Citadel — The Egyptian Parliament — The Pyramids — State 
ball — Alexandria — The Ariadne — Farewell — Alexandria at 
night 297 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Preparing for pilgrimage — The tourists again — Why do they do it? 
— Abstract and concrete — The pros and cons — The Russian 
steamer — Imperial Navigation Company — Where is it? — Port 
Said — The inner port — Jaffa — Hamed in the gate — Fortifi- 
cations — The Ramleh convent — Fra Giovanni — Road to Jeru- 
salem—The Arabs— Turkish traffic-taker — Church of St. 
George — Recruits — Jerusalem — The Jaffa Gate — Inside the 
Holy City — Turks in possession — Hotels at Jerusalem — A 
Jerusalem guide — Mount of Olives — Gethsemane — Tomb of the 
Virgin— Shut out—" Rob Roy "—Jordan water— A vision . 318 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The explorations — Lieut. Warren — The road — A new crusade — 
A suspicious accident— The Haram— Dome of the Rock- 
Bethlehem — Holy places — Departure from Jerusalem — An 
enthusiast — Departure from Ramleh — Ramleh mendicants — 
Bashi Bazouks — Gardens of Jaffa — Streets of Jaffa — The 
Consular agent , , . 355 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



CHAPTER XV. 

Departure from Jaffa— Rw a ways— The slaves' return— A rude 
joke — Port Said once more — The Khedive's arrival— The 
popular reception — The restaurant — Borrowed plumes — The 
Khedive's ball— The Khedive's reforms— Sir Samuel Baker 
Bey — A suspicious incident 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The voyage to the Second Cataract — Crocodiles in sight — 
Hyaenas — Waiting in vain — A crocodile at last — Abou-Simbel 
— Wady Halfeh— The desert lunch— The tents— The dere- 
lict boy — Expectations — Sand-banks again — Arrival at Philse 
— Departure from Assouan — The Faid Rabanie abandoned — 
Dance at Mustapha Aga's — 'Treasure trove — At Sioot — A 
shipwreck — Minieh — Return to Cairo — Visits in Cairo — Visit 
to the Khedive — The Boulak Museum — The two Pharaohs — 
State banquet — The British school — The races — An invitation 
— The Viceroy's request — The harems — The bazaars — 
B air am — The Khedive — The procession — The reception — 
The Viceregal Harem — The last day 386 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Baksheesh — Departure from Cairo — The Desert — Suez — Chalouf — 
Serapeum — Ismailia — The city — The pioneers of the canal — 
Life in the Desert — Port Said — Sand accumulations — Selec- 
tion of Port Said— The Suez Canal — The workshops — Three 
hard rolls — Arrival in Alexandria — Transfer to Ariadne — The 
parting — The Arab boy — Native divers — Farewell to Egypt . 426 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Impressions — Condition of Egypt — Comparisons — Slavery — 
Pharaoh's slaves — Ancient ejectments — Sultan and Viceroy — 
The Firmans — The Firman of 1867 — The capitulations — The 
climate — Life on the Nile — Residence in Cairo — -The Nile 
weather — The Nile of Scripture — Want of water in the Nile . 452 



XIV 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Dardanelles — The big guns — The stone shot — Gallipoli — 
Constantinople in sight — The Golden Horn — The Grand 
Vizier — Saleh Bazaar — Dolmabakshi — Visit to the Embassy 
— The Sultan's band — Our attendants — The least wish an 
order — Procession to the Mosque — -Turkish women — The 
Sultan — Omar Pasha — The Sweet Waters— Theatre Naoum 
— Seraglio Point — The Bagdad Kiosk — The Sultan's dinner 
— The menu — Visit to the Harem — Church at the Embassy — 
The Scutari cemetery — Mr. and Mrs. Williams — The bazaars 
— Missirie — Palace of Beyler Bey — The new Palace — 
Tchamlidja — Mustapha Fazil Pasha — Halil Bey — Ball at the 
Embassy — The Tophaneh — The British Memorial Church — 
Fete at the Theatre Naoum — "L'Africaine " — The Sultan's 
stables — Banquet at the British Embassy — Aali Pasha's 
house — The Grand Vizier's daughter — Packing up — The 
departure — Farewell — The Bosphorus — Royal visits— Turkish 
prejudices — Cairo and Constantinople — Balls in Islam — The 
two Courts — Baksheeshia 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Crimea — " There is Sebastopol!" — General de Kotzebue — 
Programme — The Memorial Chapel — The Russian cemetery 
— Gortschakoff— The Belbek— The Telegraph Tower— The 
Alma — Return to Sebastopol — Bourliouk — The climate — 
Ruins — The Redan — The right attack— Cathcart's Hill — Our 
camps — The Windmill — Inkerman — The " Schlacht-feld " — 
October the twenty- sixth— The Malakhoff— The dockyard— 
Lazareff's monument — The Karaite Patriarch — Departure 
from Sebastopol — British Head-quarters — "Lord Raglan's 
Head-quarters" — The house — "Mother Seacole's" — Balaclava 
—The Light Cavalry charge— M. Plumet— The Phoros Pass 
— Livadia— The Palace— Morning calls— Imperial chalets— 
Orianda — Alupka — Departure from the Crimea — Attractions 
to tourists— The Tartars — The war — The results of the war — 
" Up-firldn " — An accident — Baksheesh — Mustapha Fazil 
Pasha— The Sultan's visit— Taher Bey— Departure from the 
Bosphorus 



CONTENTS. 



xv 



CHAPTER XXI. 



PAGE 



Anchored in the Dardanelles — Departure from the Dardanelles — 
The Ethiopian serenaders — The Pirseus — The Royal meeting 
— The landing — The King's Palace — The views — Servants — 
Modern Athens — The Acropolis — State banquet — Theatre of 
Bacchus — Illuminations — Departure for Corfu — Isthmus of 
Corinth — Arrival at Corfu — The Queen— Lent — Greek aspira- 
tions — Brother and sister — The King of the Hellenes — The 
future — The party leaders— St. Spiridion — The procession — 
Arrivals and departures — A political difficulty — Govino and 
Yido — Sporting excursion — M. Valaority — Coropiskopous — 
Quiet hours — Prince Napoleon — Naval inspections — The 
Prince's visit — The picnic — A delightful day — St. Spiridion 
again — Frightening the Evil One — The farewell — Illumina- 
tions — Good-bye to Greece — A man overboard — " He 's lost, 
sir ! " — " On ahead ! Full speed ! " 578 



Brindisi — The Brindisi route — Pros and cons — Home again . . 626 



POSTSCRIPT. 



APPENDIX A. 



Scutari Cemetery 



633 



APPENDIX B. 



Memorial Church 



644 



APPENDIX C. 



The Pera Address 



649 



EBBATA. 



Page 34, line 10 \ 
,, 35 ,, 13 \ for " Tomasio," read Tominaso. 
„ 38 „ 3 ) 

,, 54, headline, for "Boulaq," read Boulak. 
„ 199 

,,200 ,, and line 22 



for " Sonhadj," read Souhadj. 



250, line 15, for " pyroteconic," read pyrotechnic. 



97, headline, and line 13 
99, line 24 



for "Hekekan," read Hekekyan. 



%* Oriental words and names, such as " baksheesh " and "Boulak," admit 
of great varieties of spelling. The more erudite the writer, the more eccentric to 
our eyes is his orthography, because he seeks to render the true phonetic value 
of Arabic, m English, letters. 



PREFACE. 



I have made my own journal the basis of the 
following account of the tour of the Prince and 
Princess of Wales, although I felt some inconve- 
nience would arise from adopting that course. In 
the first place, I had to obtain from others the 
materials for the itinerary of the Royal travellers 
between London and Alexandria, without which the 
record would not have been complete. Interpolated 
between that short chapter, which principally con- 
tains names and dates, and the narrative of the 
voyage to the First Cataract, there is a little sketch 
of the proceedings of the party with which I started 
from Paris, and of our life in Egypt previous to the 
coming of the Prince and Princess. 

When I left England, to accompany the Duke of 
Sutherland and his friends, I had no intention of 
extending my tour beyond the Nile and the Suez 

B 



2 PREFACE. 

Canal. It had been arranged that we were to await 
the arrival of the Prince and Princess at .Cairo, 
and attend their Eoyal Highnesses to the First 
Cataract in a steamer placed at the Duke's 
disposal by the Viceroy of Egypt. Beyond that 
there were no definite plans with respect to our 
movements. 

In the early part of the year the relations between 
Turkey and Greece were so threatening, that a 
royal visit to Constantinople or Athens seemed to be 
impolitic, if not altogether impracticable. If Con- 
stantinople could not be approached, of course it 
would be impossible for the Prince and Princess to 
visit the Crimea. There is no real political incog- 
nito in the case of exalted personages ; and the Baron 
and Baroness of Benfrew cannot make an excursion 
from which the Prince and Princess of Wales are 
debarred. But the cloud which hung over that 
stormy Icarian Sea, where the Eastern question is 
riding so uneasily, lifted in spring-time, and the 
Royal tour expanded as the sky became clearer. 

Whilst the Prince and Princess were engaged 
on their expedition, between the First and Second 
Cataracts and back, I went on a very hasty pilgrim- 
age to Jerusalem. I have borrowed the account of 
their excursion from the note-book of a friend. They 



PREFACE. 3 

made a more rapid descent from the Second Cataract 
than was anticipated. Consequently I was com- 
pelled to leave Palestine after a brief stay, and to 
return to Cairo, in conformity with a promise I 
had made to await there His Eoyal Highness's 
arrival, in case he desired, or found it convenient to 
go to the Crimea. I was fortunate enough to arrive 
at Port Said on the same day as the Viceroy, 
and I was invited to accompany him in his inspec- 
tion of the Suez Canal. On reaching Cairo, I received 
an intimation from the Prince of Wales that he 
would visit Sebastopol, and an invitation, couched in 
the most gracious and considerate terms, to form 
one of his suite on the occasion. From that period 
up to the date of the arrival of the Eoyal party in 
Paris, on their way home, the narrative is founded 
on my journal. 

It will be readily understood, that he who writes 
an account of a recent Eoyal progress in foreign 
countries, has to encounter difficulties which would 
not lie in his way if he were travelling under ordi- 
nary conditions. It must not be inferred that there 
was anything to complain of, if I say that the guest 
of a King cannot very well sit down to criticise 
the arrangements of the Palace in which he was 
lodged, as if he were writing of his last hotel — 

b 2 



4 PREFACE. 

or that there was anything to condemn, if I remark 
that he cannot indulge in comments on people he 
met there, a few days after parting from them, as 
freely as if he had seen them in the street, or had 
heard of them by popular report. Frorn a height, 
one sees more, but he does not make out the 
details so well as on the plain ; and if his horizon 
be wide, his steps are limited. But, at the same 
time, he can observe objects on the summit, which 
are scarcely visible to those beneath. 

If the advantages of visiting strange countries be 
recognized in the case of private persons, these, 
whatever they may be, should certainly be largely 
developed when the stranger is one whose know- 
ledge of foreign lands, acquaintance with distin- 
guished men, and intimacy with different Courts, 
will be turned to account some day when he is 
the ruler of a vast empire which possesses interests 
all over the world. Although the direct control 
of the king be constitutionally reduced to a 
minimum by our system of ministerial action 
and responsibility, the influence of the monarch, 
always considerable, is augmented in proportion to 
his personal ability and energy; and in many 
affairs he has, perhaps, a larger and more direct 
share of management than is generally, supposed. 



PREFACE. 5 

It is of benefit to the country that the true 
value of political questions and the actual 
characters of foreign statesmen should be known 
to the man who is destined to take such an 
important part as a judicious and strenuous king 
can always assume, without unconstitutional en- 
croachments, in guiding our administration of 
foreign affairs. The Prince of Wales has just 
visited every Court in Europe, except that of 
Eussia, with which he is already acquainted, and 
those of Italy and Portugal, which are, perhaps, 
reserved for a future occasion. Spain is courtless. 
There is not a statesman or politician of note, from 
Copenhagen to Cairo, with whom he has not con- 
versed, and of whose views on most great questions 
he is not informed. Their armies, navies, social 
institutions, religious systems, educational establish- 
ments — he has seen something of these wherever 
he has gone, to his own great profit, and no doubt 
to the ultimate use of the State. 

In the course of our Odyssey there occurred many 
incidents, there were seen many men, manners, and 
cities. Some of the men are so near to us — others 
were beheld under such peculiar circumstances — the 
manners and cities are so familiar — that it would 
not be justifiable to transcribe passages relating to 



6 PREFACE. 

them from a private memorandum-book; but, on 
the whole, the narrative of our daily life will be 
given without restraint, though I am aware that 
there is nothing in many of the scenes, or in the 
course of the tour itself, to warrant minute details, 
and that it is in the travellers themselves, and in 
the circumstances surrounding them, rather than 
in their travels, that whatever interest there is in 
these pages will be found to centre. 

I alone am responsible for any expression of 
opinion and indication of feeling which may be found 
in the following pages, and in no instance are they 
to be attributed to those whose sentiments would 
be entitled to the highest consideration. If I have 
written with perfect freedom, I have endeavoured 
to avoid injury to just susceptibilities. I hope my 
readers will pardon any deviations from the subject 
indicated in the title, which may arise from the 
introduction of personal incidents and recollections. 
My recurrence to the aid of friends I feel sure 
does not need an apology. 

To Professor Owen my thanks are due for a 
chapter on the Nile Basin and on the Suez Canal, 
from a scientific point of view; to the knowledge 
and notes of some I confess my obligations in all 
matters relating to ornithology and natural history ; 



PREFACE. 7 

to the accomplished pencils of others I owe the "best 
of the illustrations ; and to all my companions, 
from the highest, I am indebted for unvarying 
kindness, for a long series of pleasant hours, and 
for grateful reminiscences of many happy days. 



CHAPTEE I. 



DEPARTURE OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS FROM 

LONDON. PARIS. THE HUNT AT COMPIEGNE. 

COPENHAGEN. STOCKHOLM. BERLIN. VIENNA. 

DEPARTURE FROM TRIESTE. ARRIVAL IN CAIRO. 

November 17th, 1868. — The Prince and Princess 
of Wales, with their three eldest children, attended 
by Lady Carmarthen, General Sir W. Knollys, 
Lt.-Col. Keppel, and Dr. Minter, E.N., left Marl- 
borough House, on their way to the Continent. 
They travelled by the 8.30 p.m. mail train from 
Charing Cross Station; and after a rapid passage 
across the Channel in the Maid of Kent steamer, 
reached the Hotel Bristol, Paris, a little before 
9 o'clock on the morning of the 18th of November. 



chap, i.] AT COMPIEGNE. 9 

On 20th November the Prince and Princess 
went to Compiegne, on a visit to the Emperor and 
Empress. They left Paris at 10 o'clock a.m. in the 
Imperial train, and reached Compiegne shortly 
after 11 o'clock. The Emperor was waiting at 
the station, and conducted his guests in open 
carriages through the town to the Palace. 

A dejeuner was served soon after their arrival, and 
then their Poyal Highnesses drove to the Eendezvous 
de la Chasse, about four miles off in the forest, for a 
stag hunt. Horses were provided for the Prince of 
Wales and his equerry. The Emperor did not ride. 
About a mile distant the hounds were waiting, and 
His Boyal Highness having ridden to the spot, they 
were turned off. 

To ride through the forest was impossible : it was 
necessary to go by one of the numerous allees, in 
which the forest abounds, in the direction in which 
the hounds were running. Shortly after the com- 
mencement of the hunt, a curious accident happened 
to the Prince of Wales. As he was galloping 
along one of the drives, a stag rushed across and 
knocked him and his horse completely over. He 
got up again at once, and, though slightly bruised 
and shaken, remounted and continued on horse- 
back till it got too late to pursue any longer. 



10 A DATS SHOOTING. [chap. 

The stag was not killed till some time after dark. 
The curee took place, in the courtyard of the Palace, 
after dinner. 

On 21st November the Emperor gave the Prince 
a day's shooting, the game chiefly pheasants and 
rabbits. There were ten guns out. The shoot- 
ing party consisted of the Emperor, the Prince 
of Wales, Marshal Bazaine, the Due d'Albe, 
the Comte de Moltke, the Comte Mercy Argen- 
teau, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Comte 
Bedinur, General Sir W. Knollys, and Lieut. -Col. 
Keppel. His Eoyal Highness bagged 270 head ; 
Lord Lansdowne came next, with 260 head, and 
the Emperor third, with 239 head. 

After the day's shooting was over, the Prince 
and Princess returned to Paris, the Emperor and 
Empress accompanying them to the station at 
Compiegne. 

Thursday, November 26th, 1868.— The Prince 
and Princess left Paris at 5 p.m., via Namur and 
Liege, and reached Cologne at 5 a.m. on the 
morning of the 27th. They left Cologne in the 
evening at 7.15, and reached Hohendorf soon 
after 7 on the morning of the 2Sth. The 
passage across the Elbe was effected in a steam 
ferry, and a slow train thence brought their Eoyal 



i.] ON BOARD THE FRET A. 11 

Highnesses to Liibeck in about two and a half hours. 
At Liibeck they embarked on board the Danish 
Government steamer Prey a, and after a sea pas- 
sage of about eight and a half hours from Trave- 
munde, reached Korsoer in the course of the 
night. 

Suncla}-, ^November 29th. — Soon after 9 a.m. the 
Crown Prince of Denmark came on board the 
Freya to welcome the Prince and Princess. At 
9.30 the}' landed, and were loudly cheered by 
the assembled crowd. They proceeded by special 
train to Predensborg, via Copenhagen, where they 
were met by the King and Prince Walclemar. The 
Queen and Princess Thyra were waiting at the 
station of Predensborg, and thence the party drove 
to the Slot. The Princess of Wales was greatly 
cheered by the people. 

Tuesday, December 1st. — The birthday of the 
Princess of "Wales. At 1.15 p.m. the ladies and 
gentlemen in waiting and several friends, assembled 
in the large saloon of the Palace, and offered their 
felicitations. In the evening there was a large 
dinner-party, to which Sir C. Wyke, the British 
Minister, and his attaches were invited. The King 
proposed in Danish the health of the Princess, 
saying it was six years since he had had the pleasure 



12 STOCKHOLM. [chap. 

of having her with hirn on her birthday ; and that 
when he looked back upon the anxious time of her 
severe illness of the previous year, he could not be 
sufficiently grateful to Almighty God for being able 
to have her now sitting by his side almost completely 
recovered. 

On December 2nd, and on several subsequent occa- 
sions, the Prince of Wales went out shooting. On 
these occasions the peasants sent their carriages, 
holding three persons, besides the driver, and drawn 
generally by a pair of excellent cobs, to take His 
Majesty's guests to the shooting-ground. In former 
days they were compelled to do so, but now the King 
always pays for the carriages he requires. 

Tuesday, December 15th. — The Prince of Wales 
left Fredensborg, by special train, at 11 a.m. for 
Stockholm. The Crown Prince of Denmark accom- 
panied him as far as Helsingborg across the Sound, 
which place they reached after a rapid passage of 
twenty minutes. The Prince proceeded as far as 
Jonkoping, where he slept. 

Wednesday, December 16th. — The Prince left 
Jonkoping at 6.45 a.m., and reached Stockholm 
at 7.15 p.m. The King of Sweden met the Prince 
at the railwav station, and conducted him to the 
Palace. The Prince remained at Stockholm till 



i.] FRED EN SB OR G. 13 

Tuesday, December 22nd, during which time he 
was made a Freemason, and was present at a ball 
at the Palace, and at one given by Prince Oscar 
of Sweden. 

On the morning of the 22nd December, the Prince 
left Stockholm at 6 o'clock, and was accompanied by 
the King to the first station. He reached Helsing- 
borg at 3.30 on the morning of the 23rd, whence 
a special steamer and train brought him back to 
Fredensborg by 6 a.m., in twenty-four hours after 
leaving Stockholm. 

Monday, December 28th.— The Danish Court 
moved to Copenhagen from Fredensborg, and on 5th 
January, 1869, the Prince and Princess were present 
at a full-dress state ball at the Christianborg Palace. 

January 1 5th.— The Prince and Princess of Wales, 
with the infant Princes, and with Lady Carmarthen, 
Hon. Mrs. W. Grey, Sir W. Knollys, Lieut.-Col. 
Keppel, Lieut.-Col. Teesdale, Capt. Arthur Ellis, Lord 
Carington, the Hon. 0. Montagu, and Dr. Minter, 
E.N., in attendance, left Copenhagen at 8.30 p.m. 
At the railway station the Foreign Ministers and 
various officers of Court, in full uniform, were wait- 
ing to bid adieu to their Eoyal Highnesses, who 
quitted the hospitable Court and city, where they 
had received such genuine kindness and heartfelt 



14 ARRIVAL AT HAMBURGH. [chap. 

attention, witli great regret. To one of them there 
was, of course, a special and natural reason for 
sorrow. All, Avithout exception, entertained a lively 
sense of the warmth of the right royal welcome. 
The King and Queen of Denmark, the Crown 
Prince, Sir Charles Wyke, Mr. Strachey, and Mr. 
Macdonald, accompanied the Prince and Princess 
to Korsoer. Countess Reventflow, Admiral Irminger, 
Captain Lund, and Captain Bardenfelt, were of the 
suite. 

It was midnight when the party reached the 
port and embarked on board the Freya despatch- 
boat, Commander M'Dougall. The King and Queen 
of Denmark then took leave of their daughter and 
of the Prince, and the steamer, proceeding at once 
to sea, lay on her course for Liibeck, which she 
reached in ten hours, and where Mr. Moore, the 
English Minister for the Hanse Towns, was in at- 
tendance. A special train conveyed the Royal party 
to Hamburgh at 1.30 p.m. The weather was cold, the 
thermometer marking five degrees of Reaumur. The 
party, forty-two in all, were put up at the Hotel 
Victoria, where a dinner was given in the evening 
to the Duke and Duchess of Grliicksburg, the Prin- 
cess Louise, and Prince Julius of Grliicksburg. 

On the following day the first token of the long 



l] departure of the royal children. 15 

journey before the Prince and Princess was given 
by the departure of the Eoyal children, who, in 
charge of Lady Carmarthen, Sir William Knollys, 
and Lieut.-Col. Keppel, left the hotel at 7.30 in 
the morning, on their way to England. 

The same day, soon after noon, the Eoyal travellers 
left Hamburgh, and arrived at Berlin at 7 o'clock 
at night. They were met at the station by the 
Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Prussia, Prince 
Henry of Hesse Darmstadt, Lord Augustus Loftus, 
Mr. Petre, Lord Brabazon, Mr. Frank Lascelles, and 
Mr. O'Connor, attached to Her Britannic Majesty's 
Legation, and Mrs. Petre, Lady Brabazon, and Mrs. 
Frank Lascelles. The weather was bitterly cold, 
Eeaumur marking eight degrees of frost. 

On the following day (the 18th of January being 
one of the two days in the year on which it can be 
held) a Chapter of the Order of the Black Eagle 
was convened, and the Prince of Wales was invested 
with the Collar. At 2.30 a procession was formed 
at the Old Schloss, Heralds, Pages, Officers of State, 
the nineteen Knights Grand Cross entering in the 
following order : — General Yon Eoon (1 ), Baron 
Von Moltke (2), Count Yon Eedern (3), Count Yon 
Bismarck (4), General Yencker (5), Count Yon Wal- 
dersee (6), Count Yon Werderer (7), General Yon 



16 ORDER OF THE BLACK EAGLE. [chap. 

Bresenniay (8), Prince Adolph Hohenlohe (9), the 
Chancellor, Field Marshal, Count Yon Wrangel (10), 
Prince Albert of Prussia's Son (11), the Duke of 
Mecklenburg- Strelitz (12), Prince August of Wur- 
temberg (13), Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia 
(14), Prince Alexander of Prussia (15), Prince 
Adelbert (16), Prince Albert of Prussia (17), the 
Crown Prince (18), the King (19). All Knights 
wore their robes and collars ; the King alone 
remained covered. He wore his helmet, and, stand- 
ing on the throne in the Eittersaal, after a short 
address, proceeded to invest the Prince, who was 
introduced by the Crown Prince and Prince Albert, 
when he had taken the necessary oaths, with the 
Collar. The whole ceremony was exceedingly im- 
posing, and the brilliant decorations in the hall and 
the display of old plate very striking. 

An early dinner at the Eoyal Palace permitted the 
company to proceed afterwards to the Opera House, 
where they witnessed the ballet of " Sardanapalus." 

The weather was so cold that every opportunity 
was given to indulge in the amusement of skating, 
and on the 19th and 20th there were very pretty 
exhibitions at the Thiergarten. 

On the night of the 20th January, the Eoyal 
travellers left Berlin by the ordinary night express 



i.] ARRIVAL AT VIENNA. 17 

train, the Crown Prince and Princess, together with 
their household, the British Embassy/ and many 
of the Ministers, accompanying them to the station. 

Ten degrees of frost, and a country whitened with 
snow, made them sensible of one of the few advan- 
tages which the English climate possesses over that 
of the dry plateaux of Northern and Central Europe. 

It was 8 o'clock at night when the train reached 
Vienna. At the station, the Emperor, in full uni- 
form, the Duke of Wurtemberg, the Archduchess 
Therese, Prince Augustus of Saxe Coburg, the Princess 
Clementine, the Princess Amalie, Prince William of 
Schleswig-Holstein-Grliicksburg, Prince Hohenlohe, 
Lord Bloomfield, the British Ambassador, with the 
members of the Embassy, the Danish Minister, and 
many others, were in waiting, and received the Eoyal 
travellers, who were driven to the Burg, where the 
Empress, attended by the Princess Thurn-Taxis and 
the Countess Hunyady, welcomed them, and shortly 
afterwards they were left to the enjoyment of repose 
in the fine old Castle. The rooms are almost count- 
less, of great size, the floors of exquisite parquet. 
In one there is a series of the largest and finest 
mosaics in the world, which formerly belonged to 
the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

The cold next day increased to nearly fifteen 



18 SKATING AT VIENNA. [chap. 

degrees, and a sharp wind gave an edge to its in- 
tensity. Visits, grand dinners, and the theatre, 
occupied the party during their sojourn at Vienna. 
Skating, too, had a share in the disposition of the 
time ; and all the civilities and courtesies in which 
the Court of Vienna excel were lavished upon the 
Eoj^al party, and tended to render their stay exceed- 
ingly delightful. 

The Prince and Princess paid visits to the King 
and Queen of Hanover in their retirement at Hiet- 
zing, near Vienna. 

On the 27th January the Prince and Princess 
left the Burg. The train, which started at 7 o'clock, 
having passed the Sommering in all the glories of 
bright sunshine, arrived at Trieste at 7.30 p.m. The 
Prince and Princess and suite embarked on board 
H.M.S. Psyche (Commander Sir P. Blackwood), 
and went off in her to H.M.S. Ariadne (Captain 
P. Campbell),* which burnt blue lights and 
rockets. 

Two hours after midnight a terrible fire broke out 
in the town of Trieste, and all the Eoyal party were 
aroused to come up on deck, and look at the raging of 
the flames, which destroyed a long line of warehouses. 

* Captain F. Campbell, A.D.C. to the Queen, was sent out from 
London to take command of the ship, in consequence of the lamented 
illness of Captain Colin Campbell, who was obliged to remain at Malta. 



i.] DEPARTURE OF THE ARIADNE. 19 

The Ariadne got ready for sea, weighed at 9 a.m. 
on the morning of the 28th January, and proceeded 
on her way to Alexandria; but her progress was not 
very rapid. Next day was squally and misty, with 
a southerly wind right ahead ; the speed fell off 
from eight to six, and then to five knots. On the 
following day, the speed increased to nine knots, 
but the wind was still adverse, and the weather 
cloudy. The next day (Sunday), with a calm sea, 
and lighter breezes, the Ariadne made good way, 
passing the Albanian coast, with its ranges of snow- 
capped mountains, Zante, and Navarino. Mr. On- 
slow, the chaplain, read service at 11 o'clock. Every 
hour brought an increase in the temperature ; and 
the usual enjoyments on board ship in fine weather 
came into play. There were singing and hornpipe 
dancing, electro-biology and mesmerism, on lawful 
days, between decks. 

At 9 o'clock on the evening of the 2nd of 
February, the Ariadne arrived off Alexandria, 
fired a gun, sent up rockets, burnt blue and 
red lights ; but it was too late to try the inner 
passage to the harbour, which is only safe by 
daylight. 

At 7 o'clock next morning, February 3rd, the 
Prince and Princess, with their suite, were in rea- 

o 2 



20 RECEPTION AT ALEXANDRIA. [chap. 

diness to land. Colonel Stanton, H.B.M. Consul- 
General, came off from the Psyche, accompanied 
by Sir Samuel Baker, and paid his respects to 
their Eoyal Highnesses. The Ariadne steamed 
into the harbour at 8 o'clock, a.m., all the 
Egyptian and foreign men-of-war saluting, man- 
ning the yards, and dressing ship. The French 
and Danish Consuls-General, the captain and officers 
of the French frigate, Mourad Pasha, Abd-el- 
Kader Bey (attached to the Eoyal party during 
their stay), the Governor of Alexandria, &c, 
repaired on board. At 11.30 o'clock the Prince 
and Princess left the Ariadne, in the state barge, 
and repaired to the landing-place, where they were 
received by Mehemet Tewfik Pasha and Sheeref 
Pasha, and a great crowd of officials, all in uniform. 
The Prince of Wales was in his uniform of General, 
and his suite were also attired in the dress of their 
rank. 

At a quarter past 5 o'clock they arrived at Cairo, 
at the Kasr El ML 

So far, the account of the Eoyal tour has been 
carried by other hands. Having now seen the 
Prince and Princess safely into Cairo, I will go 
back a few days to my own party, which was 
anxiously awaiting their arrival in the Egyptian 



i.] CAIRO. 21 

capital, and will give some description of onr 
doings on the way to it and in it, and of an excursion 
on the Suez Canal, which was made in the interval 
whilst we were expecting the Prince and Princess 
of Wales. 



CHAPTEE II. 



DEPARTURE OF THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND S PARTY 

FROM PARTS. ST. MICHEL. MONT CENIS. TURIN. 

BRINDISI. ALEXANDRIA. CAIRO. OUR PALACE. 




HE Prince and Princess 
were enjoying tlie hospitali- 
ties of the Northern Courts, 
whilst the Duke of Suther- 
land's party, assembled in 
Paris, were preparing for 

W their visit to Egypt. And 

Paris is the worst place in the world to start 



ohap. ii.] MODERN TRAVELLING. 23 

from after a short stay, for it is trie least pleasant 
to leave — that is, as long as one lias money 
in his purse and friends around him. But 
at 8.40 on the night of 14th January we de- 
parted for Brindisi, over Mont Cenis. We were 
six in all, not including the faithful Alister (the 
Duke's piper), and the domestics. Our travelling 
impediments were reduced to the smallest size and 
least weight consistent with comfort. A saloon 
carriage — a director or two in attendance — plenty 
of room — civil and attentive guards, who kept 
the doors against all comers — and great powers of 
sleeping, and of contenting ourselves when waking, 
made the long route seem short, though nothing 
could render it always warm. 

^ow-a-days men travel by villages and towns very 
much as in old times they went past milestones ; nay, 
they are even less noticed, unless the traveller have 
some interest in them. People go and come like 
shadoAvs, in the night and the day. The face we 
are longing to know more about lightens up as 
the train halts at some station, is embraced by 
Monsieur as its owner alights, and vanishes for 
parts unknown in the interior. And if you take 
an interest in the face, what chance is there of 
you knowing anything about it ? There ! As you 



24 THE MOXl CESIS ROUTE. [chap. 

are musing or staring, the whistle sounds and 
you move off, and in ten minutes are five miles 
away, while the face is going off by some poplar- 
lined road to Boissy le Sec or Chateau Belle- 
rllle. In the old days you might hold a long con- 
versation on the subject ere the horses were put to, 
and learn a family history. But these are not the only 
differences between now and then, and it would be a 
big booh which would hold them all. The greatest 
interest of the through-route traveller in cities and 
stations is now connected with his animal wants. 
" Macon at — a.m. Capital buffet !" <: Ten minutes 
at Culoz." ''"'Try those little game pies, and avoid 
the coffee and wine ! ; ' And so on. 

I do not know whether I would advise any one 
unpressed by violent hurry in travelling to take the 
Mont Cenis route for choice in winter. It is very 
picturesque, very grand, very cold, and not very 
comfortable. And if for us it was so, what may it 
not be for ordinary passengers, who must not ex- 
pect directors in attendance, special trains, saloon 
carnages, ordered banquets, and accommodation be- 
spoken by telegram from the superior authorities ? 
In fact, opening a new route across the Alps is 
verv much like making a new line on the Arneri- 
can continent. In the latter case you have to 



il] ST. MICHEL. 25 

cany inns, accommodation, and necessaries of life 
alongr* with you. In the former, von must slowly 
break through the crust of old- established civili- 
zation and the hardened forms of torpid life which 
have prevailed for centuries — break them down, as it 
were, with the buffer of the engine. Old diligences 
still linger lovingly here at the stations and at the 
termini of the adventurous young lines which climb 
mountains, pierce through rocks, cross torrents, and 
descend swiftly down Alpine slopes into the far- 
reaching plains. The stalactite innkeepers do not 
understand it at all. They do not see why people 
should be in such haste. They cannot quite meet 
the wants of passengers who desire reserved bedrooms 
and special accommodation. But they are gradually 
warming up to the great fact that people who need 
these things must pay for them. St. Michel, where 
the party arrived in the afternoon of February 
15th, is certainly not a tempting place for a tra- 
veller to live in — at least, for more than a day or 
two. The situation, indeed, is picturesque. Buried 
in one of these Alpine valleys, which eat into 
the mountain barriers, as if seeking to find a pas- 
sage — surrounded by fir-clad steeps and rugged 
mountain spurs, growing pile upon pile into the 
snow-covered summits — it is shut out for many 



26 THE TROUT OF MONT CENIS. [chap. 

hours from the rays of the blessed sun in its 
shivering depths. A one-streeted, many-laned, 
crooked-housed, rugged-paved place, with a Savoyard 
population, regulated by the usual proportion of 
booted gendarmerie, a small traffic carried by 
enormous barrels on attenuated carts, two gaunt 
inns, wine shops, and the various magazines which 
supply the wants of a southern French town 
introduced into an Alpine village — these, seen 
under the influences of bitter wind, clouds of 
granite-like snow whirling through street and 
passage and window-frame, were not very likely 
to lead to warm appreciation of the advantages 
of the situation of St. Michel. But, when 
the night came, indeed, and the whole party 
assembled in a large cavernous room, lit by 
cresset lamps, and sat down to a most excellent 
dinner, the interior of the Hotel de la Poste 
we found could give better cheer than would 
have been anticipated. St. Michel has its master- 
pieces of cookery. On the top of Mont Cenis 
there is a lake which, even in winter time, yields 
store of famous trout. They grow, feeding the 
Lord knows how, to the weight of eight or ten 
pounds. Pale-skinned, feebly-speckled, large-headed, 
unpromising on the outside as St. Michel itself, 



ii.] A HAZE OF NEURALGIA. 27 

they are, beneath the scaly surface, worthy of 
the table of kings. And then, too, there is a 
very clever dish of Savoyard origin, which, with 
the trout, is quite enough for any man's dinner. 
But, ascending from the plain to such an altitude, 
and meeting so great a change of temperature, 
indisposed more than one of the party. " Miser- 
able pain surprised' ' me. How the night passed, 
or the next day, or the day after, I scarcely 
remember. I was aware of many kind attentions 
from friends ; of being animated by feeble hostility 
towards beneficent persons who inquired from time 
to time how I felt ; of gazing, through a haze of 
suffering, at beautiful landscapes ; of looking through 
vales of agony into vast ravines bedecked with rocks 
and precipices and tumbling torrents ; of passing 
through dark tunnels ; of making great descents 
through covered ways. I have a sort of a cloudy 
idea of a reception at Susa, where Count Arrivabene 
met the Duke, and a misty notion of a change of 
carriages, and of an arrival towards nightfall in Turin, 
and of a grand procession, up lighted passages and 
corridors in the Hotel de l'Europe, and of an induc- 
tion into a right royal suite of apartments, and of a 
mystic visit to the opera. But neuralgia was over it 
all. The recollection of the journey is now like that 



28 THE FRIEND OF GARIBALDI. [chap. 

which one has of a protracted nightmare. Early 
next morning — yes, — there ivas a bill. And all I 
am glad to say is that it rarely happens to us to 
have the privilege of sharing in payment' of such 
a document ; but then dukes, with gold mines, and 
companions, who would have gold mines if willing 
could do it, are not to be had at Turin every day. 

January 18th. — It was close on 11 o'clock a.m., 
when the train reached Brindisi. We had taken 
some twenty-eight hours to make the run from 
Turin. What famous places had been passed night 
and day by our rattling chariot wheels — Piacenza, 
Parma, Modena, Bologna, Eimini ! What fair fat 
fields, enriched by many battles ! What world- 
renowned sites, dear to antiquary, artist, and 
man of letters ! — to us now mere notches on the 
finger-post of the time-table. Through our route 
yesterday it rained heavily, and there were few 
workers in the fields, and but small gatherings 
at the stations. But still it was known that 
an English duke was somewhere about ; and the 
name he bears is dear to many Italians, who believe 
that the friend of Garibaldi must be the friend of 
their great idea. At Turin, indeed, when some of our 
party went to the opera, it was supposed the Prince 
of Wales was present incognito. The audience saw 



ii.] A DIRTY PLAGE. 29 

a fair-haired, blue-eyed Saxon with flaxen moustache 
in the box presented by the municipality to the 
Duke for the night, and they took it for granted 
it was His Eoyal Highness ; and no doubt, in spite 
of certain modest retirements on his part, it gave our 
friend a pleasurable thrill. "I was taken for the 
king," says Miiller in the play, " and hang me if I 
didn't feel like one ! " At Brindisi, however, there 
were no doubtful honours awaiting the travellers or 
their chief. And, indeed, how could we escape them ? 
The vessel would not sail till 9 p.m. There was 
a great reception. There were municipal bodies, and 
sotto prefettos, and magistrates, and civic and port 
personages awaiting to welcome " il duca di Suther- 
land, l'amico di Garibaldi." And they took posses- 
sion. We were carried off to the hotel, of which I 
shall say nothing, because it is only a makeshift — 
the old original tavern, which contented Brindisians 
for ages past. There is a new hotel in posse on the 
quay — a heap of sand and rubbish and a pile of 
timber mark the spot. But till it is built, let 
passengers provide store of food, unless they are 
content with what they can get — it will be sur- 
prising if they are — and let them come prepared for 
a sojourn in one of the dirtiest places I ever saw. 
The whole nature of the people must be changed, 



30 JUVENILE LABOURERS. [chap. 

their habits and customs completely purified and 
altered, ere the streets of Brindisi can cease to 
be an offence to civilized human beings. Will 
" Brindisi fara da se ? " It would be so much the 
better for the agricultural interest near at hand if 
she would. It will not do to discount the future. 
Do, dear sotto prefetto, think of this ! Passengers 
will not face present discomforts sustained by the 
hope of comforts hereafter ; and men, and even 
women, are usually very exacting when they arrive 
after a long journey by sea or land. Horace — no ! 
not one word of the Iter ad Brundusium this time ; 
nor of Virgil's house, nor of Boman arches and 
remains, nor of historical reminiscences ! After a 
light repast at the Inn, we set out in two boats to 
visit the port; and landing at the works on the 
north-western side of the harbour, beheld a very 
busy scene — men, boys, and children at work in the 
quarries of lava-like rock, preparing blocks for 
transport by the rough rail, to continue the jetty 
or breakwater which is to complete the harbour. 
Bagged as Horace's edile, bright-eyed, sallow- 
skinned, merry enough they seemed, although the 
taskmasters over the little ones were harsh of 
voice and prompt of cane. Once, indeed, a young 
one of the party was so roused by the. sight of a 



ii] BRIND1SL 31 

sound whack on a blubbering boy's back that he 
was urgent to execute Eton justice on the authority, 
and was only deterred by force majeure. As we were 
£C in charge " of local magnates by sea and land, we 
had to do all the works minutely, and to ask many 
questions and collect much information. So we 
travelled on one of the trucks to the end of the 
jetty, and saw the blocks thrown into the sea, which 
plashed up eagerly to meet and swallow them, and 
admired the sinewy frames and handsome faces of 
some of the labourers, who sang in chorus and 
cheered themselves in rude rhymes as they toiled, 
Then, embarking, we inspected the Citadel or Castle 
on the island, — a most interesting memorial of the 
old Spanish rule. It contains an internal harbour 
for boats and galleys, surrounded by the walls of 
the Castle. There were a few soldiers in the place, a 
chapel, and some monuments, much desolation and 
decay, and a good deal of dirt. On the crumbling 
parapet, seawards, there was a newly made gabion- 
nade, with traverses ; and a few guns ready to be 
mounted, some freshly repaired furnaces, and small 
heaps of shot and shell, indicated a purpose of defence 
should any Austrian vessel have ventured to attack 
the newly created station. For the Brindisians had 
"a scare" in 1866. One of the ironclads from the 



32 THE E ARBOUR. [chap. 

fleet, after Lissa, might have come down and done 
just as it pleased, notwithstanding these defences ; 
and no doubt, if the war had lasted, and Trieste had 
had its way, such a compliment might have been 
paid. "It's a splendid harbour!" exclaimed one 
of our Italian friends. " Some fine day the British 
fleet might anchor in it." 

" That is a long way off," replied an ancient 
mariner, in a laced cap. — " One frigate was in here 
some time back, and could scarcely get out again." 

" It is easy to approach in all winds," continued 
the first. 

" Except when the wind is strong from the south, 
or north, or west," said the other. 

" Why, a sailing ship can tack in with the wind 
from any quarter ; three-fourths of all the points of 
the compass, any way." 

" If she does not run ashore," quoth the sailor. 

" Oh ! you are an Austrian Lloyd's man, and you 
are prejudiced." 

And no doubt he was — a little. For the harbour 
is better than he made it out, and in the future it is 
to be all that can be desired, if the plans be carried 
out — land-locked, with splendid moorings and quays, 
and deep channels, and good lights. So good luck to 
the Future. The Italian Government, however, must 



ii.] AD BRUNDVSII GLORIAM. 33 

stretch out a hand to meet it. The funds granted 
towards the works are nearly exhausted, and the 
annual vote should be increased. 

In the evening the Duke and his friends were 
entertained at dinner by the Municipality in 
the Inn, and were introduced to the wines of 
the country, which were better than might 
have been expected ; and made and heard speeches, 
ad Brundusii gloriam. The wonderful properties 
of the Italian tongue were set forth in a remark- 
able manner by our excellent friend Count Arriva- 
bene, who acted as interpreter; for a few abrupt 
sentences in English expanded from his lips into 
rolling orations, which roused burgomasters and sub- 
prefects to the highest enthusiasm, and inspired them 
with great admiration for the eloquence of their 
guests, the benevolence of their sentiments, and the 
magnificence of their promises. And so we went 
out into the street in a blaze of glory, and repaired 
on board the steamer which lay alongside the jetty. 
There Captain Yecchini, best of mariners, received us, 
and, after a warm leavetaking of our warm-hearted 
and hospitable Brindisians, we prepared for our 
voyage. There were no other passengers ; the ship 
was all our own. On such an occasion the selfishness 
of human nature is sure to come out. " How jolly ! 

D 



34 IONIAN FISHERMEN. [chap. 

We are the only people on board !" Poor Company ! 
If it were always so, the Brindisi route must soon 
close up ; but it is seldom indeed such advantages are 
to be obtained by a party of friends at the expense 
of the Societa Anonima ; and I am glad of it, now 
I am on shore. There seems every reason for the 
line to prosper. Marseilles and Trieste may nourish 
too. The world is big enough for all three, and 
increase of appetite will grow by what it feeds on. 

At 9 o'clock p.m., II Principe Tomasio steamed 
out of Brindisi Harbour for Alexandria. We went 
swiftly during the night, and the Captain took 
the vessel through the inner passage, between the 
islands and Albania, of which we could see the 
snow-capped mountains, and the black-looking coast 
near at hand, when morning broke. Passing the 
Ionian Islands in a short chopping sea, next 
morning we saw a few Greek boats scudding 
towards shore. "It is different times with them 
now the English are gone," quoth Captain Yec- 
chini. " They used to have fine times of it, catch- 
ing fish, and supplying the tables of those lords at 
great prices. Now, they get little or nothing for 
what they catch. They regret you, when it is too 
late, and find they cannot live upon the glory of 
belonging to the Hellenes." 



ii.] THE G REGALE. 35 

January is scarcely trie best time for navigating 
the Adriatic. 

Our good Captain could not always keep near 
land, and, once out at sea, the gregale was upon 
us in all its fury, to the great despair of the 
Captain, who desired to show how the Prince 
Thomas could make a good passage. ISText day, 
it was still the gregale which blew, and the seas 
came swishing overboard, and running down- 
stairs and playing about in the cabin. We 
passed Cerigo and Cerigotto, and the Cape of the 
Morea scowling through drifting sheets of foam. 
The Principe Tomasio can roll under such circum- 
stances, and we were all knocked about, and as 
miserable as could be. P. M. suggested a vigorous 
policy. Candia was under our lee, but it was fenced 
round by jealous corsairs. P. M. advised that we 
should run the blockade of the Turk, and take 
shelter in any port which lay handy. Whereat 
the Captain told terrible tales of Turkish cruisers, 
of their reckless firing at everybody, and of his 
own captivity once — for the Prince Thomas had 
been overhauled and detained, although she was, 
he said, far outside the line of blockade. " W r ho 
knows what a Turk will do when he has 
got cannon? The only chance we should have 

d 2 



36 u MALTA 3IAFEESH ! " CHAP. 

would be that they are all lying snug under cover 
somewhere. Otherwise the first warning they 
would give us — the brigands ! — would be a round 
shot ; though they seldom hit anything they fire 
at." Captain Vecchini had evidently no good opinion 
of Turkish, nor, for the matter of that, of Egyptian 
sailors either. "How long do you think they would 
keep at sea, if they had no European engineers? 
How long would they last at all, only they have 
money to buy and pay with? They get robbed, of 
course they do." And then he tells the famous 
anecdote of the Egyptian captain who was ordered 
to take his ship to Malta for repairs, and who re- 
turned to Alexandria with the statement that there 
was no such place as that tight little island. " Malta 
mafeesh!" he reported. "There is no such place. 
Malta 's gone ! " And all the time the Captain 
was on board a steamer built by Palmer, with 
Grlasgow-made engines, and Scotch engineer. 

But that our party was in a condition of unstable 
equilibrium, the voyage might have been enjoyed; 
for the table was excellent and well served, every 
one willing to please, capital stewards, and all the 
means of making life pleasant — if the sea would but 
keep quiet ! The Captain was held in constant 
conversation. " Ask the Captain, please, if he 



ii.] SEA TALK. 37 

thinks the wind will go down." "What does 
the Captain — ask him — think about Graribaldi?" 
That one subject lasted for hours. Then we 
diverged to the Papal Government, the affairs 
of Ancona, and the bravery of one of our 
Brindisian friends, who, as soon as peace was pro- 
claimed, challenged an Italian general for a blow 
given in active service, and kept a promise he made 
to shoot him through the hand which inflicted the 
insult. Austria, the Emperor of France, the price 
of tobacco and of land, and the future of Italy ! 
Oftentimes the querists taxed the powers of their 
poor interpreter beyond his resources. It is aston- 
ishing how little one knows of a language when 
he is tried in intricate subjects— especially about 
navigation ! 

One more night — one more day — a night again 
— the wind moderating— the party recovering — 
that is, the suffering members. 

The last day of all became sunny and nearly 
calm, though the shoals of flying fish could still 
spring from the top of a rolling wave as vantage 
for their flight, and the stability of cups and 
glasses was not to be confided in. 

On the 23rd of January we anchored in Alex- 
andria a little before noon, having maintained our 



3S THE WELCOME. [chap. 

speed of ten knots an lionr on the run. Even now 
I shall not be deterred from asserting that II 
Principe Tomasio is a capital boat, though I know 
I hurt susceptibilities. All will agree that 
Captain Yecchini is a capital sailor. As a worthy 
British officer from India wrote in the ship's book : 
" I am sure the Captain is a regular brick, 
although my ignorance of the lingo he used pre- 
vented my having much talk with him." A 
Government boat with eight oars came alongside, 
and an Egyptian official boarding us, presented the 
Duke with an autograph letter of the Viceroy, 
bidding him and his party welcome, and full of 
pretty compliments. Ali Pisa, the officer in 
question, speaks English, French, German, Italian, 
Arabic, Persian, and his native language, Turkish. 
He took charge of the Duke and his friends ; and, 
I may fairly say, from that hour, he never lost 
sight of us till our departure from Egypt. There 
was also the consular dragoman, who must be 
as well known as Pompey's Pillar or Cleopatra's 
Needle, to lend his voice, his staff of office, the 
splendour of his laced attire, and the terror of 
his curved scimitar, to the landing, which was 
performed with a serenity such as is seldom atten- 
dant on the proceeding in Alexandria. How many 



ii.] ALEXANDRIA. 39 

thousands of tempers are lost there annually ? Who 
can withstand the temptation to incur the loss 
offered by porters, donkey boys, beggars, touters, 
and Egyptian cabmen? Now, they moved in a 
revolving circle around us, afraid to come within 
reach, but unable to overcome the force of habit ; 
just like jackals wheeling round a carcase which a 
lion is guarding. Some Europeans like an excuse 
for the excitement of assault and battery. It pleases 
them to indulge in their weakness of " hitting a 
nigger " with impunity. And nowhere are there such 
excuses as in this ancient town — ancient, yet very 
modern. 

The population is a very cloaca gentium. It does 
not flow. It stagnates, and precipitates a villain- 
ous deposit. No city in the world contains such a 
heterogeneous inflow of various races and rascalities. 
In self-defence, the respectable inhabitants, of whom 
there are many, are obliged to draw a broad and 
deep line outside the fortress of their own circle, 
and good society in Alexandria is difficult of 
access. The stories one hears of the doings of our 
Christian friends from some of themselves are 
nearly inconceivable. No wonder that the Viceroy 
is anxious to obtain some sort of control over the 
immigration which finds it worth while to resort 



40 THE CONSULAR TRIBUXALS. [chap. 

to liis dominions, but refuses to obey the laws of 
the land, or to be subject to the rule of the 
authorities. I am not now prepared to say that it 
would be quite safe to sweep away the Consular 
Courts absolutely and offhand. Sound guarantees are 
needed for the administration of justice between 
Egyptians and Europeans. But it is obviously im- 
possible that the present system can go on if Egypt 
is to prosper. No country can tolerate, within its 
centres of trade and commerce, some dozen and 
more of distinct national existences, with separate 
and independent jurisdictions, frustrating justice, and 
offering strenuous opposition to improvement, re- 
fusing to contribute to municipal funds, or in any 
way to aid the state by then* purses, no matter 
how well filled they may be. 

A special train was in readiness to take the 
party to Cairo ; but after so much fatigue, Ali 
Eisa, who has a profound respect for creature com- 
forts, considered rest and refreshment absolutely 
essential, and a banquet was ready, spread by the 
adroit hands of M. Joseph at the Hotel de TEurope. 
We had a drive through the town, visited the 
Needle and Pompey's Pillar, and at last, with a 
great following of native and European servants in 
the Viceroy's employment, started on our journey, 



ii.] RECEPTION AT CAIRO. 41 

arriving at Kafr e' Zyat in a couple of hours, where 
another banquet was laid out, and so on to Cairo, 
which we reached about 10 o'clock p.m. 

At the Station carriages and cavasses, and the 
animated lanterns which precede private vehicles in 
Cairo — men carrying iron frames on long poles, 
from which burning tar, coals, and strips of pine 
throw a bright yellow light on the roadway — were 
in readiness. In a few minutes the carriages, driv- 
ing in succession through a gateway into a narrow 
courtyard, deposited the party at the gate of the 
Palace. A double line of servants in black received 
and showed them upstairs. The rooms were a 
blaze of light. Ali Eisa insisted that supper was a 
matter of the first necessity, and, late as it was, we 
had to repair to the dinner saloon, where there 
was another great meal, to which some meritorious 
persons of the party did ample justice. 

The Palace consisted of a large central hall and 
two corridors, or smaller halls, on the ground floor, 
the one leading to it from the front entrance, the 
other leading to the garden at the back, and to the 
out- offices. Off the first, there were four large 
rooms, in which the servants lodged. The dinner 
saloon and other rooms were off the inner passage. 
From this hall a marble staircase, supported on four 



42 OUR RESIDENCE. [chap. ir. 

pillars of the same material, ran to the upper 
floor, on which, to the right, was a spacious and 
handsome drawing-room, on each side of which were 
two large bedrooms, one occupied by the Duke of 
Sutherland, the other b} r his son. On the left hand 
a similar large room, which was not used for 
any state purpose, served to give access to four bed- 
rooms, which were occupied by Colonel Marshall, 
Major Alison, Mr. Sumner, and myself. The draw- 
ing-room was richly furnished. Satin- and damask- 
covered ottomans, sofas, and easy chairs lined the 
walls • rich carpeting was spread on the floor ; and 
the windows were hung with the most massive em- 
broidered silken curtains. But it was curious to see 
how recklessly nails were driven into the walls, how 
windows were cracked, how doors were left without 
paint, and what ruinous legs and backs were united 
with frameworks of fine stuff, which had no doubt 
cost sums that would have astonished Holland or 
Gillow. 



CHAPTEB III. 



THE BUZZARDS. NEW CAIRO. THE ARSENAL. THE 

KASR-EL-NIL. THE GREAT BARRAGE. — THE NILE. 

—THE PROFESSOR IN EQUILIBRIUM. 

January 23rd. — There is a peculiar sound in the air, 
coming in through the jalousies of the open window. 
It announces the East at once — an Oriental people, 
without cares about sewage or rates for the Victoria 
Main Drain. It is the shrill whistle of the innumer- 
able buzzards — a quavering, not unmusical, note, re- 
peated for the livelong day on all sides, as they flap 
over house-top and garden. Listen to the cries 
which come from the street outside the Palace wall, 
the voices of people always in each other's way, 
and raised in incessant warning ! Veiled women, 
strings of camels and asses, covered with loads of 
a certain pulse, on which all the cattle are 
feasting freely, preparing for the heats of summer 
—men on donkeys, smoking pipes as they ride — 
men on foot, with bundles of sugar-cane under their 
arms • men and women in open carriages and 



44 A CAIRO DEJEUNER. [chap. 

buggies — all jostling, bumping, and shouting in the 
dusty road ! The Egyptian, who is more liberal and 
civilized than the Turk, is to all appearance far more 
Oriental and Mahometan. Beflections cut short by 
a tub of water, deliciously cold, also by troubles con- 
nected with musquito bites. The sleeping miscreants 
being detected as they reposed, bloated and helpless, 
on the curtains, inside which they had secreted them- 
selves, met their death. Ali Risa came charged 
with messages from the Viceroy, who desired to see 
the Duke at 1 o'clock. Then, after undress levees 
from room to room, the company assembled for 
breakfast in the saloon downstairs. The table was 
covered with fruit and flowers, and plate, and 
delicate decanters, and fine glass and china, all 
marked with the Viceroy's cipher, " I. P." The 
attendants — Italians mostly — polyglot, dressed in 
black, and wearing the fez or tarboosh. The cooking 
excellent ; oysters and fish from Alexandria, European 
dishes, French and German wines, Eastern pilaffs, and 
tiny eggs, and many sweets. After breakfast we went 
upstairs to the drawing-room, and pipe-bearers and 
coffee-bearers entered in succession, the latter bearing 
trays on which stood, in diamond- and ruby-studded 
holders of immense value, cups of real coffee; the 
others with long-stemmed pipes, having vast amber 



hi.] HA VSSMANNIZAT10N OF CAIRO. 45 

mouthpieces, blazing with precious stones, in one 
hand, and a metal dish to receive the pipe-bowl in the 
other. When an Egyptian takes a pipe, he raises 
his hand to his forehead, as a token of thanks. The 
bearer inclines the pipe-stem, so that the bowl 
shall rest easily on the stand, as the mouthpiece is 
held to the lips, and then puts his hand on his 
stomach, as a salutation, and retires backwards. The 
bearer of the coffee-tray carries on his left shoulder 
a velvet cloth or cover, ornamented with golden 
bordering, in which are set many precious stones. 
These gentlemen were Turks or Arabs, Europeans 
not being worthy or capable of such important 
charges. When these pipes and coffees had been 
puffed and drunk, we descended to the court, where 
carriages, driven by coachmen in the gold-laced livery 
of the Viceroy, were in readiness, and took a turn 
through the city, each vehicle preceded by a running 
footman, in richly laced vest and wide white shirt- 
sleeves, loose white drawers, cut off a little above the 
knee, and leaving the legs bare, who maintained an 
eternal cry to the passers-by to get out of the way. 
Cairo is undergoing, in its way, a process of Hauss- 
mannization. Whole quarters have been pulled down, 
and new houses and new streets perplex the traveller 
who remembers the ancient places, where he was wont 



46 TEE SIZE FLOTILLA. [chap. 

to walk in fear and trembling tbrongh tbe mazes of tbe 
decayed honeycomb of a city. There is a fine open 
space in front of Shepheard's Hotel, and the Xew 
Hotel beyond. Here the Viceroy appears divided 
between his desire to form a park and his wish to get 
money for bnilding sites ; for the sake of the city let 
us hope the first may prevail. 

Our first visit was made to the river, to inspect 
the boats which had been prepared for the ex- 
pedition up the Xile, those for the Royal party 
having been fitted out under the superinten- 
dence of Colonel Stanton and Sir Samuel Baker. 
The vessel set apart for the Duke and his friends 
was the Viceroy's favourite steamer, The Pride 
of the Two Seas, and the fastest craft on the 
river. She is about the size of a Dover packet, 
and draws four and a half feet of water. The 
accommodation below, set forth in rosewood and 
gold, consisted of a long saloon, at one end 
of which was a bath-room, and a small cabin 
appropriated to A. S. (by himself) little provident 
of the results of its proximity to the boiler ; at 
the other end two cabins, which were told off to 
the Marquis of Stafford and to myself ; and then 
beyond, a V-shaped divan, on the sofas of which 
the Duke and Colouel Marshall made their beds. 



in.] THE ARSENAL, 47 

By-and-by I will describe how we were lodged, 
and give an account of the little flotilla. 

"Whilst we were at the river- side, we came across 
what is called the Arsenal. There were some field- 
pieces and gun-carriages to justify the name, but 
the main object to attract the attention of the 
intelligent foreigner, is a vast collection of 
Fowler's steam ploughs, Appold's pumps, agricultural 
engines, and various costly apparatus of the kind, 
lying in dislocated rusty heaps all over the 
enclosure. Cosas d'Egitto I Ordered by Said Pasha, or 
some other ruler — found to be in advance of the 
age — the cart before the horse — and so left to the 
dust and rust. At a rough guess, there was some 
£30,000 worth of machinery there. "What it cost 
Egypt, who can say ? I was going to add that 
rust, owing to the dryness of the air, was not of 
rapid formation in Cairo ; but it actually rained a 
little this afternoon, and, a few clays before our 
arrival, a deluge fell on and astonished the city. 

At 1 o'clock we drove to the Kasr-el-Nil, or Nile 
Castle, and visited the Viceroy. The Palace, which 
stands over the water's edge, is full of mirrors, chande- 
liers, rich carpets, and damask and satin furniture. It 
is not large, and, indeed, may almost be described as 
being cosy. The view from the windows, out over the 



48 VISIT TO THE VICEROY. [chap. 

ever-flowing stream, 'margined by the forest-like masts 
of the native boats, and the pyramids of Ghizeh rising 
above them towards the west, is animated and inter- 
esting. The reception of the Duke's party was of a 
most friendly character, and the Khedive was exceed- 
ingly gracious to all, for he retains a lively recol- 
lection of the efforts made by the Duke of Suther- 
land to show him attention when he was in Eng- 
land. He expressed the great pleasure he ex- 
perienced at the coming to Eg} r pt of the Prince 
and Princess of Wales. He particularly desired 
that the party should visit the Barrage of the Nile, 
the works of which he is about to urge forward, 
in the hope of effecting the irrigation of a great 
district below Cairo. The visit lasted about half 
an hour, and was graced with the pipe and coffee 
of honour. 

In the evening we went to the Theatre. The 
company (French), retained at a great expense by 
the Viceroy for the Prince of "Wales — remarkably 
fat women and lean men — rendered two of the 
flimsy little pieces of the Palais Eoyal, which 
seem so attractive to the Cairenes. Not that 
the house was very full, although the Viceroy 
was present, for, as a rule, the natives are not 
yet civilized enough to appreciate French farces. 



in.] A DIFFICULT START, 49 

January 24th. — The early business of the day 
over, our courtyard resounded with the cries of 
the attendants as they summoned the carriages 
to drive to the steamer in which we were to visit 
the Barrage of the Nile. The start was not so 
easily effected, for the turn into the crowded 
street through the gateway is narrow, and our gold- 
laced master of the whip took a sharp angle, and 
had to draw up his horses in the gateway to 
avoid demolition of the hind wheels. He could 
not back, for the carriage would have come against 
the gate. It was amusing to see the derangement 
caused to the attendants by this little catastrophe. 
Whilst they were chattering over it, the Europeans, 
to the discomposure of Ali Eisa, got down and 
lifted the carriage wheels, so as to clear the 
dangerous portal; and then, heralded by our 
running footmen in laced jackets and bare legs 
and feet, we cleft our way through the throng 
of the busy street very much as a steamer 
goes through a shoal of herrings. The shrill cries 
of the herald to " Clear the way ! — take care ! " 
act on the mass of people — on the veiled women 
and swarming children — like an instinct. They 
do not look to see what is coming, but gather 
up to the side of the street, and merely glance at 

E 



50 OPHTHALMIA. [chap. 

the passing vehicles without curiosity or surprise — 
without even that half-resentful, half-pleased look 
which lights up the face of a European who has just 
escaped being run over. 

The streets of Cairo have often been described — 
that is, painters in words and in colour have 
made innumerable efforts to convey the impressions 
produced on the eye by the combinations in 
architecture, in animal and human life, which are 
in their entirety quite beyond reproduction, and 
defy adequate representation on paper or canvas. 
To add one more to the list of failures in that 
way, is not a legitimate ambition, though, where 
so many masters have not succeeded, it would 
not be discreditable to achieve another fiasco. To 
my mind there is one great drawback to the pleasure 
with which the eye would otherwise rest on such 
an animated scene as every thoroughfare in Cairo 
affords to the stranger. It is that the population 
have such a limited allowance of eyes among them. 
I doubt if there is a good sound pair to be 
found among every three persons — men, women, 
and children. Aged and young, it is all the 
same. The prevalence of ophthalmia, produced, 
perhaps, humanly speaking, by dust, dirt, and flies, is 
most destructive to the comeliness of the race ; but, 



in.] TEE SUGAR-CANE SEASON. 51 

somehow or other, trie women of trie better class of 
lower orders are, as far as one can judge, free from 
the worst ravages of this plague, and gaze on the 
stranger with a fair share of the organs of vision 
above their mashed cheeks. The eyes afflicted by 
the disease are surrounded by bleared lids, and 
are either half- closed or diminished in size, so that 
the pupil, dull and whitened with opaque spots, is 
like that of a half-boiled fish. The basane tint of 
the Egyptian skin is often blurred with the marks of 
disease, and the hue would give one the idea that 
the ablutions of the race do not extend above the 
neck. But the crowds who may be seen washing 
in the river, show that they are clean or religious. 
The poor children crawl about in the streets and 
the doorways like neglected kittens, each the centre 
of a swarm of flies, which have their main points of 
attraction in the eyelids of the little miserables. 
"What do they care for that? Has not every one 
of them a piece of sugar-cane a couple of feet 
long, and perpetually renewed, to chew and suck 
at? This is sugar-cane season — men, women, and 
children are at it in all directions. People 
walk about with bundles of cane six feet long 
under their arms, and eat it as it were unconsciously. 
A poor wretch is he who has not a couple of yards 

e 2 



52 IN THE STREETS. [chap. 

an consommation ; and all along the paths people 
sit in the midst of patches of masticated pulp, and 
munch the live-long day. In the fields near and 
inside the city, they are bnsy cntting it, and loading 
asses and camels with the mounds of the sweet 
porous canes. One is at a loss to think what they 
will all do when sugar-cane time is over. Any way, 
the practice does not hurt their teeth, which, if 
we are to judge from what we see, are the whitest, 
cleanest, and soundest part of their body. 

At the present time Cairo is full of pilgrims 
about to start on their pilgrimage to Mecca, 
and either it is fancy or fact that the devout 
people are not fair to look upon. Assuredly they 
are a long way from godliness, if cleanliness 
be a mark of approximation to the beauty of 
Mahometan holiness. Such picturesque, scowling, 
monoptical old vagabonds look up at the infidels 
with an unpleasant light in the only visual ray 
directed against our persons ! They are smok- 
ing in doorways, or at the shop fronts, or are 
slouching in their grandly draped figures (no 
matter how poor the texture of the robe, it 
is sure to be well put on) — sombre, grave, if 
not sad or fierce looking. Sometimes, oh ! 
horror ! — cometh one in a huge pair of horn 



in.] LOOKS AND WORDS. 53 

spectacles, incongruous with beard and turban. 
But be it noted, by the way, that the Egyptian 
hereabouts is not grandly bearded like some of 
our Indian friends — Sikhs for example ; or like 
Asiatic Turks and Syrians. At times a blind, 




vindictive, but sincere, Mahometan, led by a boy, 
approaches, cursing in good set terms all infidels 
in general, and your Highness in particular, in 
that your domestic has driven him against the wall, 



54 BOULAQ. [chap. 

which is not always the place of honour in the 
East. I am not quite sure that the ladies, as 
being more pious than the men, are not also more 
unkindly in look; but it is hard to judge from a 
veiled face. 

The carriages drove through the gateway of the 
Palace, which is also a barrack, and the sentries, 
at the sight of the viceregal livery and runners, 
seemed in doubt whether to turn out the guard or 
not, but gave the guard the benefit of it. 

We passed on board the steamer, and were soon 
running down the Nile. The wind was exceed- 
ingly strong, and by no means warm. But a 
terrible fate sits behind the wanderer in distant 
lands, and impels him to do all sorts of un- 
pleasant things to himself. The steamer shot by 
the Arsenal, where repose in inglorious peace the 
implements, which a Yiceroy imported without 
the workmen, and found too late he could not 
work. The lower part of Cairo is not often seen 
by strangers' now, as the rail has put the old 
route by water from Alexandria long time out of 
date. But it is worthy of a visit, if it be only for 
a view of the tumble-down picturesque old houses, 
hanging over the water, ready to fall into it 
on the least provocation, and the long lines of 



in.] WILD DUCKS. 55 

the native boats, with their crews of diverse looks 
and sorts, and enormous yards, some more than 
a hundred feet long, drawn up by the shore, or 
bowling along with the wind, or beating across the 
river. There are also many kiosks and palaces to be 
seen, steam pumps for irrigating the land, side by 
side with the patriarchal water-wheel and double 
bucket. Much to be admired at is the pertinacity 
with which people spend their money in building 
walls of masonry, jetties, and quays, by the banks of 
the wily and unconquerable old Nile, who bores into 
and splits and searches them out in their inner 
places, and rifts them up and topples them over. 
The ruins abound nevertheless, like most warnings 
and awful examples — fruitless of good. Palace 
succeeds palace. They are only two storeys high, 
flat-roofed, with Venetian blinds to the windows, 
and very plain outside, being generally washed in 
grey, blue, and white ; but each has its mirrors, 
chandeliers, carpets, and furniture. Apparently 
there is no idea of repairing or doing up one of 
these residences. "When a great man's house be- 
comes shabby, he builds him another. 

It was most interesting and exciting to watch 
the incredible multitudes of wild duck which rose 
from the water on the approach of the steamer. 



56 THE GRAND BARRAGE [chap. 

They did not mind the native sail-boats' coming 
within a hundred yards, but paddled off from 
all comers to that distance, and were quite wary 
enough to test skill and patience. Among them 
were occasionally flocks of geese, which kept by 
the shores, some few flights of teal, flocks of pintail 
and crested widgeon. One lovely sheldrake on a 
bank quite invited a long shot ; but we were not out 
for sporting ; " and let the sportsman note," as old 
Izaak Walton says, that this latter end of January 
is a trifle too late for Upper Nile shooting. The 
duck are now going North, and are congregating 
in the waters, between Alexandria and Cairo, where 
there is still excellent snipe shooting, as many 
as a hundred couple between breakfast and dusk 
being possible in some places to a good shot. 

In an hour and a half or so we came in sight 
of the Grand Barrage, which far exceeded the con- 
ception we had formed of it. The project of Linant 
Bey, a Frenchman in the Egyptian service, was to 
construct two great dams across the two branches 
of the Xile, which divides here, and forms a large 
island, so as to keep up the level of the waters to 
a height which would permit canals cut at the 
sides to irrigate the country after the Kile had 
sunk below the high- water mark; in other words, 



in.] OF THE NILE. 57 

to maintain a constant water-head for the purposes 
of fertilizing many thousands of acres. To form an 
idea of such an undertaking, we must fancy what it 
would he to throw a harrier across the Thames at 
Greenwich, in the height of a full tide running 
down, with this exception, that the bottom of 
the Thames would afford much greater facility for 
laying the foundations, for the Nile bed is for many 
feet only soft mud. The appearance of the whole 
structure is so very light and graceful, that the 
spectator is apt to overlook the difficulty and the 
greatness of the work itself. The Barrage is archi- 
tecturally very beautiful, with a noble front and a 
grand general effect, produced by a line of castel- 
lated towers which mark the site of each of the 
sluice-gates. There are also two lofty crenellated 
towers in the centre of the dam, to correspond 
with towers over the gateway at each end. The 
towers on the right-hand side are constructed with 
small sentry-box-like chambers inside ; but they 
were not used as sentry-boxes, though there was 
a guard of soldiers at each end of the dam. As far 
as I could count, there are sixty-two arches in the 
Barrage. They are made of carved stone, and rise 
to a height of some forty or fifty feet above the 
river. A considerable number of the sluices were 



58 THE GRAND BARRAGE [chap. 

down, and the Nile was raised six feet above the 
level ; but in the middle, where the flood-gates were 
open, the water was rushing through with immense 
rapidity, and in great volume. They do not 
venture to put down all the gates, because the 
pressure of such a vast mass of water would, it 
is feared, bear down the whole Barrage before 
it. But would that be the case if the intended 
canals were ready to carry off the upraised waters ? 
There is at present only one canal, which irrigates 
a portion of country of most fertile character, and 
of great importance in consequence of its vicinity 
to Cairo, on the right bank. Why this canal is 
insufficient to carry off the water, or w T hether it be 
really so, could not be exactly ascertained, as the 
communication between the Egyptian officers in 
charge of the works and ourselves was not always 
easily established. But it seems to be the rule to 
declare that the Barrage has not done its work — that 
it is a complete failure ; or, to use the words of Mr. 

Murray, that " the works have ended in being a very 

* 

useless impediment in the river." There is a lock 
and sluices at the side of the river, on the right 
bank, which permit the navigation to be carried on 
without any considerable impediment. Now, in Mr. 
Fowler's opinion — which is that most men of com- 



in.] OF THE NILE. 59 

mon sense would come to without examining the 
question from an engineering point of view and with 
special knowledge of the subject — the Barrage must 
be regarded as a great work not yet completed, or in 
a state of imperfect development, not as a failure 
at all. "When the Viceroy's financial position will 
permit the execution of the large schemes which he 
contemplates for the improvement of the country, 
there is reason to think the original design will not 
fall short of the full measure of good which it was 
calculated it would effect. 

The boat was made fast to the side of the 
quay of the first of the Dams, where a group of 
Egyptian officials connected with the Ponts et 
Chaussees awaited us, and behind them a crowd 
of syces, with horses, apparently belonging to a 
cavalry regiment. As there was an exceedingly 
cold wind, the party preferred to walk along the 
Barrage, which is broad, and well protected by a 
cement or chunam floor, over which animals and 
light traffic can pass easily. The Egyptian officers 
proceeded to show the construction of the sluices, 
which are formed of double cones of hollow iron, 
in a semicircular form, working on radii of rods 
fixed to a central axis at each side of the sluice- 
gate. These double cones increase in size from 



60 THE GRAND BARRAGE. [chap. 

tlie lower part of the curve to the top, and the 
lowest, which are the largest, fill with water as they 
descend into the bed prepared for them in the 
masonry at the bottom of the sluices. The labour 
of two men at the crank raised one very slowly 
against the great pressure of the water from its 
bed; when the gate was lowered, it was easy to 
understand the advantage of the curved surface 
in pressing obliquely against, instead of directly 
opposing, the current. At the other side of 
the Dam, near the end of the causeway, a series 
of strong earthworks, facing the south and west, 
was visible. These works are evidently meant as a 
tete-de-pont, and a small amount of labour would 
soon make them fit for use in war-time. On the 
right of the causeway leading to the Dam, there 
is a large native village, in which the soldiers 
engaged in guarding the bridge were quartered. 
Here were the usual groups of veiled women and 
half-naked children, and fellahs, sugar-cane in hand 
and mouth. There is probably a toll levied on 
the traffic, carriers and passengers, over the Barrage, 
for several uneasy-looking people started up at our 
approach as if to demand their fees. But the 
Viceroy's friends do not pay for anything, and we 
passed on, and dawdled about whilst the engineer- 



in.] A PEACEFUL SCENE. 61 

ing details underwent elaborate description and 
discussion. 

Two girls, closely veiled, were walking by trie 
river-side near us. An old Egyptian rushed out of 
the guard-house, and shouted to them; the young 
ladies at once turned and shuffled along at a 
trot into a place of safety. What harm did the 
ancient man of Egypt suppose we could do to the 
ladies whom he warned off so peremptorily? We 
were not all so fair to look upon that he thought 
their peace of mind was in danger, and they only 
showed us their eyes through a slit in a black 
mask with a piece of reed jealously barring the 
bridge of their dear noses. But so it was, and we 
were obliged to be content with the aspect of the 
village from afar, and with observing the manners of 
certain respectable Moslems, who came one after 
another to the lock-head, spread their carpets on the 
stones, and devoutly said their prayers and bowed 
their heads to the ground, standing and kneeling 
alternately. 

It was a pleasant and peaceful scene; the 
swallows wheeled around us boldly; the large pied 
kingfisher flopped into the stream close at hand, 
and the little ox-eyed dotterel ran along the banks 
in constant activity. Ear away, the tops of the 



62 AN INTRENCHED CAMP. [chap. 

Pyramids rose above the belt of date palms which 
barred the horizon, and the tall lateen sails of 
the river-boats glided as if free to steer their 
course over field and meadow. But there is not 
much time for strangers in the land to take their 
ease. Poor victims ! if they come so far to see, 
why see they must ; just as in some country houses 
visitors are persecuted by daily programmes founded 
on the horrible hypothesis that they must all and 
each be always doing something and going some- 
where, travellers are presumed to be dissatisfied if 
they are ever left in peace. Away back again, over 
the Barrage to the right bank of the Nile, where 
our steeds await us, and then in a procession, some 
preferring the safety offered by a seat on the back 
of the placid donkey, others on hard-bitted jun- 
keting nags, we canter along a narrow and dusty 
road across the Delta to the other great Barrage 
which forms the dam across the Damietta branch of 
the Nile. It resembles the work over the Eosetta 
branch in most respects, but it is in a more 
secure condition ; perhaps some day, not far distant, 
thanks to the new water-works, it will turn out 
of vast utility. Just now, however, the object of 
the works around it seems to be intended for war 
rather than for peace. We were in the midst of 



Hi.] THE INEVITABLE LUNCH. 63 

a very considerable military position, in the nature 
of an intrenched camp, with a wet ditch and 
strong parapets, on which are already mounted 
some of the armament. An enemy marching on 
Cairo must either mask these works, or take the 
chance of leaving a powerful corps in his rear. It 
is quite obvious that the city is immensely corrobo- 
rated by the existence of the works covering the 
heads of the Dams, and by the intrenchments, 
within which an army of 20,000 men could be 
well covered. Some of our party attempted to 
mount the parapet, to get a view of the surround- 
ing country, but they were ordered down by the 
sentries. There were hundreds of workmen en- 
gaged in deepening and widening the bed of 
the canal which is to irrigate the Delta, and 
will, it is to be hoped, prove a permanent blessing 
to the country — for it is a blessing to have crops 
five or six times a year, is it not? — a blessing to 
somebody far away, if not to the growers. What 
other favours of Heaven may follow who can say ? 

As in all excursions, as long as we were the Vice- 
roy's guests, there was a lunch to be eaten. We 
were conducted to a pleasant little kiosk in a garden 
full of trees, where a repast was spread with 
the usual profusion — champagne, hock, claret, bur- 



64 THE PROFESSOR AND THE ASS. [chap. 

gundy, sherry, seltzer water, caviare, curries, pate 
de foie gras, hot and cold dishes of fish, flesh, and 
poultry, salads, dessert ad infinitum — coffee and 
pipes to follow. The gardener sent in bunches 
of flowers, and the table was loaded with mandarin 
oranges, apples, and exotic fruits. 

A circumstance not in any way connected with 
the dessert distinguished our return. The Egyptian 
ass is a very useful animal — all asses are useful in 
their way ; but in no country in the world is 
donkey power so largely employed as in the land 
of the Nile. No matter what horses, carriages, 
and chargers may be in waiting, there is sure to 
be a succursale of the humble creature which 
bears so much of Egyptian life on its back. So 
in this present case, our locomotive powers were 
in due course augmented by the accession of a 
number of the asses of the land ; and on one of 
these a learned and valued Professor, who can 
clothe a valley of dry bones with flesh, and 
open their old skeleton secrets with the keys of 
science, sat himself down, and prepared to trot off 
gaily, amid the noise of the captains and the 
shoutings. But the animal was of a morose dis- 
position — jealous of the paces of the high horse; 
bent on teaching the Professor a lesson of its own 



in.] IN EQUILIBRIUM. 65 

on the force of the laws of gravitation. It be- 
came evident, from a certain oscillating motion, in 
which the Professor's seat on the saddle was the 
centre and his head the arc of part of a circle, that 
the lesson was likely to come off, along with the 
corpus delicti, very soon. Genius is fertile in re- 
sources, and so is the donkey boy. The former, in 
the person of the Professor, called on the latter, and 
the latter called to his fellows, and in a few seconds 
our friend appeared with a satrap on each side. 
He sat his donkey, as it were on a throne, proudly 
and securely, his legs pendulous and sweeping the 
ground, his arms cast round the neck of the two 
children of Ishmael, one on each side, who pre- 
served his equilibrium as if he were Europa herself. 
And thus he gained the end of his land journey, 
and alighted amidst the congratulations of his 
friends — and who with him and near him are 
not ? — on his own feet, and at the end of his 
journey. After a pleasant ride back to the steamer, 
with many salaams to the officials, we proceeded 
on our way towards Cairo. 

There was a glorious sunset to welcome us, 
just as there had been a rainbow of transcendant 
brightness and beauty to herald our downward 
journey. As its rays brought out the Grizeh Pyra- 



4 

% 



66 A SUNSET IN CAIRO. [chap. nr. 

mids boldly and sharply, and turned the hue of 
the palm trees into deep ebon on our right, they 
struck the landscape on the left with many- coloured 
fingers ; and house, and field, and tree responded to 
the touch, and warmed into an outburst of gorgeous 
splendour, framed by the waters of the river, on 
which were reflected the lower part of the picture, 
amid a mass of slender spars and lofty sails. 

It was nearly dusk when we reached the city, and 
it needed many cries to prevent our chariot making 
a Juggernaut-like track through the narrow streets. 
In the fields on either side, among the water- courses 
and sugar-canes, the watch-fires flickered in the centre 
of the family groups encamped there for the night, 
with horses, camels, asses, and goats around them. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



THE WEATHER. VISITS. — THE SUEZ CANAL. ISMAILIA. 

PORT SAID. SUEZ. CAIRO. 

January 25th. — To an invalid, who expected to find 
an agreeable warm morning to greet him on his 
awakening, the weather at 8 a.m. would have been 
disappointing. There was neither fog nor frost, 
nor raw east wind; but though the air w T as pure 
and light, there was a sharpness in it, which 
suggested the use of a warm coat or a brisk walk. 
As the road before the Palace, which, by the way, 
is also the thoroughfare to the fashionable drive, 
is not in first-rate condition, an army of children, 
boys and girls, has been turned on to cut down 
the hillocks and fill up the hollows. It was painful 
to watch the little creatures, toddling about with 
baskets of earth on their heads, and bags of the 
same held against their stomachs with both hands, 

f 2 



68 TEW FIE PASHA. [chap. 

while task-masters, rod in hand, stood by to 
stimulate their energies. Still they seemed merry 
enough, and if they did not execute very much 
work, they probably gave full value for the few 
piastres they received for their labour. 

After breakfast, Tewfik Pasha, the eldest son of 
the Viceroy, accompanied by Mourad Pasha, came to 
the Palace to return the Duke of Sutherland's visit, 
and the rest of the party were presented to him. 
He is seventeen years of age, of middle stature, 
slight, good-looking, with an agreeable smile and 
fine dark eyes. He was dressed plainly in the 
Turkish-cut frock-coat, with the eternal fez or 
tarboosh on his head, and a star on his breast. 
Pipes were brought in, but His Highness only 
held the amber to his lips, and did not smoke. 
The conversation was short, and the incident not 
very remarkable ; but an interest attaches to the 
young gentleman, as he is heir-apparent to the 
Viceregal throne under the new dispensation, which 
overturns the ancient law, and fixes the succession 
in the elder line, excluding the Viceroy's brother, 
Mustafa Fazil Pasha, and creating, it is said, much 
uneasiness in the minds of the Faithful. That the 
change must be salutary in its general effect on the 
Viceroyalty cannot be doubted ; for of all the mis- 



nr.] DEPARTURE FOR ISMAILIA. 69 

fortunes, in regard to its rulers, to which a country 
like Egypt can be subject) none, perhaps, are 
more formidable than intrigues and disturbances 
connected with a disputed succession. It is feared, 
however, by those who see the advantages of 
the change, that in the event of the Viceroy's 
death, a little pressure, and a great deal of other 
influence, may procure a new firman from Constan- 
tinople. 

According to arrangement, the party started for 
the Suez Canal in the afternoon. There was first 
a small difficulty to be got over. They were the 
Viceroy's guests, but M. de Lesseps is King of the 
Canal, and he had invited Mr. Fowler and Professor 
Owen to join in the excursion. Although His High- 
ness has a couple of summer residences along the 
route, he could not give the party the same facilities 
for seeing the Canal. If they did not accept the 
hospitality of M. de Lesseps, they would have had 
.to camp out, sending tents and horses and food to 
various stations ; not to say a word of the harassing 
of governors and deputy-governors, and the trouble 
about boats and steamers all along the line. The 
Viceroy gave orders that a special train was to be 
at the Duke's disposal, and thus the two parties 
.were comfortably amalgamated. 



70 THE CAIRO STATION. [chap. 

The scene at the station was very strange to a 
new-come Europe man. A train was about starting, 
and the open cars were thronged by a very vociferous 
— nay, screaming — swarm of Egyptians, Turks, 
Syrians, and Arabs, who struggled for places with 
the utmost apparent ferocity, but submitted at once 
to the law of the stronger. This was frequently 
administered by the servants of the railway, through 
the simple agency of a thick stick. Wonderful 
was the strange noise which rang out of the 
skulls of most respectable-looking persons on the 
application of this cogent bye-law ; and admirable 
the submissiveness and peace produced by the second 
or third decision of the court ! There was as much 
shouting on the platform as in the carriages. Cer- 
tain of the latter were shut in and latticed closely, 
being reserved for women of rank, simple enough 
in their tastes and food, judging by the supplies of 
dates, oranges, and water, handed in through the 
windows by their sable attendants. The women 
sat crouched in groups by themselves, and did not 
always leave the men the squabble -making and con- 
troversy. Sundry stolid religieux, bound for Mecca, 
with all their goods in a bundle the size of a hat- 
box, and with a water-bottle and some dried beans 
as their sole viaticum, regarded the confusion as a 



iy.] M. BE LESSEPS. 71 

part of tlie sufferings to which the pilgrimage is 
subject. It is surely a thorn in the flesh of the 
staid stay-at-home Moslem, that they should be 
obliged by then faith to undertake such a distasteful 
journey as soon as they can afford it, after paying 
all just debts, and providing for their wives and 
families. 

At the station, M. de Lesseps, who was ac- 
companied by Count Waldstein, M. Yoisin, M. 
Le Clercq, &c, met the party, and the special train 
got off at 2.45 p.m. for Ismailia. The route of 
the new line, which bisects a triangle of land 
between the Nile and the old rail, affords a daytime 
passenger an excellent opportunity of seeing the 
best part of a fertile and well-watered district. 
M. de Lesseps was of course irresistible. He 
proves as conquering when he deals with mind as 
he has done in his conflict with matter ; and as the 
train rattled unevenly towards Ismailia, he made 
the Desert smile with his fanciful, and perhaps well- 
founded, dissertations on the land of Groshen, the 
route of the ancient Israelites, the wandering of 
the Tribes, and his treatment of similar topics which 
the locality was likely to suggest. 

It is impossible to do justice to Ismailia now. 
"Wait till we come to it somewhat later, when the 



72 ISMAILIA. [chap.. 

Paris of the desert was dressed out to welcome the 
Viceroy and the Prince and Princess. And then 
it will not be easy to give the least idea of the 
strange effect of this toy city in the wilderness. 
The French made, in a few months, a little Paris at 
Kamiesh, in the Crimea. They established right- 
angled streets and police ; whereas at Balaclava 
and Kadikoi, as at Donnybrook, higgledy-piggledy, 
tempered by the Provost Marshal, was established. 
Kamiesh is a Tadmor, fourteen years old, in 
ruins. What may Ismailia become? There is no 
germ in it of long life, perhaps. But it is a 
pretty butterfly. And may it live a thousand 
years ! It was evening — 6 o'clock — when the train 
reached the station. There were horses and car- 
riages, with broad wheel-tires, to travel over the 
sands, and a whole host of French gentlemen 
connected with the Canal, who came to welcome 
M. de Lesseps and his guests. In a few 
minutes we were all settling down in various 
chalets, to prepare for dinner. In front of my 
window there was a boulevart parallel to a sandy 
beach, against which waves were breaking with- a 
gentle rustle, and a lighthouse near at hand cast 
its rays, paled by the moon, over the water. " What 
is that ? Is it a sea, or is it a fresh-water lake ?:".. 



it.] LAKE TIMS AH. 73 

"Neither, Monsieur. It is Lake Timsah, which 
they tell me is Arabic for a crocodile. I re- 
member when all you see was quite dry, but it is 
now thirty feet, aye ! and forty deep, in places, 
It is filled from the Mediterranean, and the water 
is Salter than that of the sea itself, but it is full 
of fish. It was made by M. de Lesseps." 

At dinner there were some forty persons present, 
among them two officers of a French frigate, which 
has been carefully exploring the Eed Sea, and has 
found out an excellent channel free from reefs, 
rocks, or shoals, from Suez to Aden. 

Next morning, early — too early for most of us — - 
we were awakened, and descended to a light meal 
of coffee and bread, and as 7 o'clock struck, we 
were on our way to La Mathilde, a little steamer, 
which was to take the party to Port Said on the 
Mediterranean. It was a Canal day indeed ! Never 
were men so plied with questions. There were 
M. de Lesseps, M. Yoisin (who is a Bey, by the 
bye), and M. Guichard, and M. de la Eoche, 
and M. Le Clercq, and sundry others, to each 
of whom was attached a sedulous Britisher, bent 
on informing his mind and finding out some 
weak point in the Canal, and full of doubts and 
suspicions. The perseverance of these gentlemen 



74 PORT SAID. [chap. 

was not, however, too much for the temper and 
tact of the Trench officials. Mr. Fowler began 
to admit that the engineers knew their business, 
and that they had accomplished a great deal — nay, 
that the Canal was " a very considerable work/' 
In the evening — an hour before sunset — spires 
and masts were visible above the level banks, 
and beyond them the sea. 

The masts and the spires marked the site of 
Port Said. 

Two large full-rigged ships in the inner basin 
were dressed out in flags in honour of the 
strangers. The vessels belonged to Eussia and 
Great Britain, and were laden with coal from Eng- 
land, which can be got at Port Said for 44 francs 
a ton. This " caused to reflect " one of our party, 
at all events, whose bill for three days' chauffage 
in his room, at a very good, but rather exalted, 
hotel in Paris, was equal to what he would have 
paid for one and a half ton of coal here ! There 
were, in addition to the ships, one large bark, 
twelve brigs and schooners, and a fleet of small 
craft, feluccas, &c, giving a great show of activity 
and life to the port. As the Mathilde entered 
the inner basin and glided onwards towards the 
outward harbour, which lies between the two great 



iv.] PORT SAID. 75 

arms of masonry extending into the sea, there was 
full opportunity to contemplate and admire the 
extraordinary progress of this singular enterprise. 

Having run down past the Western Pier, the 
steamer turned and made for the shore end of 
the Eastern Pier. Here we landed and inspected 
the vast — for they are vast — preparations for 
making the blocks of artificial stone for the piers. 
M. de Lesseps pointed out to Professor Owen a 
shell imbedded in one of the blocks, and ex- 
claimed, " There, Professor ! There 's a curious 
fossil ! Can you make out the epoch of the for- 
mation ? " 

" Oh, yes ! " replied the Professor. " It 's what 
may be called a very recent formation indeed. I 
know it, though I have not seen it before. It 's la 
formation Lessepsienne." 

Embarking in boats, we were landed at the 
other side of the Port. Here there was a Light- 
house to be visited, which casts its rays out to 
sea, to guide the voyager to this port, as yet 
unmarked in many charts, yet destined, perhaps, 
to a great future in the commerce of the two 
worlds. It was well worth while to climb the 
tortuous staircase and look down from the lantern 
gallery on the newly created town, which has 



76 A VIEW FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE. [criAP. 

sprung up as if some great conqueror had ordered 
an Alexandria to be founded anew. To the north 
lay the long arms of the port, thrown out lovingly 
to catch the coy commercial beauty which seemed 
so little likely to spring from the foam. The sad 
sea-shore extended east and west, marking its limits 
on the belt of sand which separates the Mediterranean 
from marshy salt lagoons, and the placid waters of 
Lake Menzaleh, by a line of breaking foam. Below, 
the town of Port Said, spacious and sandy streeted, 
enclosing the basins in which float the ships which 
have found out a new emporium, and the canal, like 
a broad street, thinning away between its banks, 
southward, into a thread. The wind blew sharply 
from surly Europe, and we descended with alacrity 
to find shelter in the comfortable residence of the 
Chief of the Section, where we enjoyed all that 
hungry and weary men could expect in far better 
known and more luxurious cities. After dinner the 
moonlight tempted us to visit the City. Miraculous 
are the efforts that Port Said has made to assert 
itself as a civilized place. Dominoes, billiards, beer, 
cigars, and music can be had by those who want 
them ! It was observable, however, that certain 
men with bludgeons were not dispensed with as 
guardians of the night; and the Oriental character 



iv.] THE TOWN AND ITS RESOURCES. 77 

of the streets was sustained by the dogs, which 
gambolled and growled in the moonlight, unvexed of 
infidels. In a little cafe which we entered, there were 
two groups of men, drinking beer, playing dominoes, 
and smoking cigarettes, of such quaint attire and 
ruffianly aspect that they would have made a repu- 
tation for a London ballet-master. With a moon- 
light strong as day blazing in on us, we retired to 
sleep, deeply impressed by the greatness of the work 
we had seen, and not at all sorry that the duty of 
seeing so much of it had been successfully terminated. 

January 27th. — The wind was blowing strongly 
from the west over a cold grey sea, scarcely lighted 
yet by the faint light from the clouds in the far 
east when we were roused from sleep. " M'sieu de 
Lesseps ! " — (for M. de Lesseps is partout here) — 
" il faut eveiller ces Messieurs." And, Messieurs 
rose accordingly, each in his own frame of mind, 
as the steps and taps and voices of his awakener 
aroused him to a sense of his situation and duties. 
My window looked out on the side of the " city," 
next Lake Menzaleh, facing the south-west. There 
lay a great expanse of dark slime, which might be 
taken for a lake dotted with sand-banks, the seeming 
banks being really patches of water, on which the 
dawn cast a strange reflection. This stretched away 



78 LAKE MENZALEH. [chap. 

to the horizon, and as the light grew stronger 
the early cranes and flamingoes became visible 
stalking abont in search of unlucky crustaceans 
out too late at night or up too soon in the morning. 
Near at hand and bordering the lake a belt of 
sand extended between the houses of the town, 
and this was spotted by groups of dogs, or by 
isolated figures of pious Moslems waiting for the 
first ray of sun to begin their prayers. Draped 
figures passed, hurrying from the Arab quarter to- 
wards the workshops, wrapped up in their bournous 
to keep them from the biting wind; for the air 
nipped keenly. The sun did not shine out, but the 
bell of the principal workshop announced the hour at 
which all in Port Said who had work to do — and 
who had not? — must get up. Straggling down 
at intervals, each member of the party came to 
his breakfast of cafe au lait, bread and diminutive 
eggs ; and those who came last found that their 
predecessors had acted on the principle of " first come 
first served," and had remembered the great precept 
of " Aide toi et Dieu t'aidera." 

Before 7 o'clock some enthusiasts were already 
improving their minds and their French by a 
walk on the western jetty. Our charming temporary 
residence faced the sea, and gave us a view of the 



iv.] THE DESERT SMILES. 79 

roller-like waves beating against the long line of the 
jetty, and of sheets of foam flying over it. In the 
garden at the rear, the marvellous effects of fresh 
water on the Desert soil were visible in the 
groups of bananas, of rose lauriers, and flowering 
plants neatly disposed in bordered plots, and fed by 
small rigoles from the central reservoir of water, 
furnished by pipes all the way from Ismailia. The 
trees and plants were moderately healthy looking — 
some, indeed, fine and vigorous — but the leaves of 
the banana are easily torn by high wind, and have 
nothing of the trim conservatory air about them. 
Prom the tall chimneys of the factories volumes of 
smoke mingled with the dust, and the clang of 
machinery and hammers rose above the moan of the 
waves on the beach. The shops were open as we 
marched through the fine soft sand which rises to the 
instep towards the ateliers and chantiers. There is 
the " Grand Cafe de France." Menazet, Coiffeur, 
who sells " postiches pour dames," is shaving an 
early and an ugly customer of unknown nation- 
ality. Billiards and dominoes are yet asleep, but 
various persons, who might have just left off play- 
ing at them, are not; and what with the dogs 
romping in the streets, and groups of Arabs crouched 
about the sheds and in the front of stalls of provi- 



80 DEPARTURE FROM PORT SAID. [chap. 

sions, Port Said lias a busy air ; though seawards 
there is only to be seen a solitary steamer plongeur 
depositing its load of sand far outside the jetties. 

As it was desirable to get in good time to 
Ismailia, we were obliged to forego visiting the 
Hospital, the Church, the Cemetery, and the Arab 
village. The latter lies to the west of Port Said, 
and contains about 3,000 souls, to which large 
accessions are being steadily made. 

It was 8 o'clock when we got on board La 
Mathilde, which lay alongside the jetty with her 
steam up ; and having bade good-bye to our friends, 
we set out on our way to Suez. It strikes me 
that the name of Port Said was a mistake. To 
most Europeans the words give the idea of a 
mere " port," a place for landing and embarking 
goods. The name is due to the desire of M, de 
Lesseps to pay a compliment to the late Yiceroy, 
who was such a patron of the enterprise. It 
will not be easy to change it now, and persons 
who do not find Port Said in Guide-Books or 
time-tables, will be astonished to hear that nearly 
100 sail of foreign vessels came into the harbour 
last year, and that this very day, when we leave, 
three steamers — one of the Kussian Company, one 
of the Messageries Imperiales, and one of the 



iv.] BACK TO ISMAILIA. 81 

Austrian Lloyd's — will arrive to land and receive 
goods and passengers. 

The return voyage to Ismailia along the Canal 
presented no unusual incidents. For ever the same 
annular sand - hills bound the banks, dotted by 
Arabs and fellahs, who find it pleasant walking by 
the side of the water, and cream-coloured mounds 
which hide the desert at each side — the same 
succession of dredging machines and their atten- 
dant flats and boats. We had proof of the speed 
of the lateen-rigged Arab boats in smooth water. 
Two of them kept ahead of La Mathilde for more 
than five miles, though the steamer was making 
thirteen kilometres an hour. The Arab steersmen 
enjoyed the contest with sombre delight. Each 
tried to jockey the other and take his wind in the 
most approved fashion; but when the steamer, 
panting and puffing, overtook first one and then 
the other, it was too much for the feelings of the 
helmsmen; and they turned their backs, in order 
not to behold the victory of the infidel contrivance 
over the plain sailing and homely agency of the 
wind. And so to Lake Timsah and Ismailia once 
more. 

Thursday, January 28th. — Not quite so early a 
start as usual this morning. There was an excellent 

G 



82 DEPARTURE FOR SUEZ. [chap, 

breakfast to fortify us against the day's fatigue, and 
at 8 o'clock we were on our way to the La Mathilde, 
which was lying at the little jetty of Ismailia. 
What is that we see on board? A tartan plaid 
cloak, and a smart little riding-habit ! Look again, 
there is still another riding-hat, and another cloak. 
And listen ! There is the ringing of silvery laughter. 
M. de Lesseps has filled the Desert, not with flowers 
and with pleasant watercourses only. 

The Mathilde dived her bow at once into the 
bright briny waters of Lake Timsah. It is not 
possible by words or painting to give an accu- 
rate impression of the newly created sea which 
has found out its ancient bed. It is in parts 
three-and-a-half miles broad ; but longitudinally 
the expanse is broken by numerous islands and 
sandbanks. Grrebes plunged deep at our approach, 
flocks of wild duck fluttered along the surface and 
squattered down at a safe distance; the boats of 
Grreek fishermen were busy near the shore, and the 
smoke of the bateaux plongeurs streaked the sky. 
The surrounding Desert, hillocks of sand, dotted 
with tamarisks, spread to the horizon. As we drew 
farther away, Ismailia stood well out against the 
background, and formed a fine object in the strange 
landscape. The tall factory chimney, the white 



it.] SHEIK ENNEDEK S TOMB. 88 

verandalied houses, the front of the street facing 
the lake, gave the idea of a fashionable sea-side 
watering place. 

The Fresh - Water Canal runs close by. At 
times we see the sails of the boats which are using 
it as a highway to Cairo rising above the desert 
level. We now enter the cuttings from the Lake. 
The Canal here is dredged to six metres deep, 
and is twenty-two metres broad at the bottom. 
Huge banks of very light sand rise high on either 
side. There is, no doubt, some danger in this ; 
but the Desert is covered with tufts of low 
brushwood, and it is hoped that some growth 
of arenarian grasses, such as there is on the Dunes, 
may be established, to check the flying clouds. As 
yet we are assured no positive injury has been ex- 
perienced from them. We pass a once dilapidated 
tomb — now renovated by the pious care of French 
engineers — which marks the resting-place of Sheik 
Ennedek, of whom I regret to own I can say nothing 
except that he was a holy man, and that his memory 
is much venerated. Even now it is not a very impos- 
ing structure, as it might be easily mistaken for a 
whitewashed molehill or a primitive oven; and as 
it stands alone in the Desert, a little way above 
Toussoum, it is not likely Sheik Ennedek will 

g 2 



84 THE GREAT DREDGES. [chap. 

ever have occasion to anathematize the disturber 
of his ancient bones. In half an hour the party 
came to the end of the Canal southwards from 
Lake Timsah. The cutting here is very deep — 
some seventy feet apparently ; and the water floated 
a large dredging machine, which was biting busily 
away into the bank before it, and casting the 
earth and sand into the barges, which were to 
carry it away and deposit it in Lake Timsah. 
There were many of these barges on their way to 
the lake, as we came down the Canal. The sight 
of this machine, working its hardest, was very in- 
teresting. The way it is brought to bear on the 
bed of the Canal is not novel to engineers, but to 
ordinary mortals it seemed most ingenious. The 
earth and sand at the end of a section are first cut 
down and carted away by men, camels, asses, and 
mules, till a flat surface, the breadth of the canal, is 
left, a few inches above the water. The dredge is 
brought up to this, her anchors are carried inland 
and firmly fixed, the machinery is set to work, and 
speedily the edges of the buckets, tooth-like, bite in 
and fill their stomachs with the earth. As we landed 
from La Mathilde, a proof of the immense energy 
of fishes in seeking new pasture, and of their enter- 
prise in exploration, was afforded to us. A couple 



iv.] STRANGE FISH. 85 

of Grreek or Italian sailors were casting a net close 
to the dredge, within a few feet of the fast-yielding 
bank. At every throw the net came up with a fair 
haul of fish. They varied from -|lb. to 31b. each, 
and consisted of five distinct species — one, a large- 
eyed, very deep fish, with broad scales, like our 
sea carp; another like a sea bream; and two which 
looked like varieties of grey mullet. Professor Owen 
did not see them, I think, and I am not able to 
assign their true character. These fish had groped 
their way from Lake Timsah, and as that lake 
was filled from the Mediterranean, very soon there 
will be between the fishes of that sea and of the 
Bed Sea a meeting, after many roving years, of 
those that had been long estranged, which may 
prove most distressing to future geologists. Who 
knows what M. de Lesseps may have to answer 
for on that head ? A visit to the fish markets 
at Alexandria and Suez enables one to appreciate 
the vast difference between the denizens of the seas 
of the middle earth and those which swarm in 
tropical waters around their coral reefs. It is 
evident the fish of the Canal will make ac- 
quaintance with strange bed-fellows on the spawn- 
ing grounds. Maybe the shark, now a visitor to 
the Nile, and a visitor, parcus et infrequens, to 



86 CHALOUF. [chap. 

the waters of Alexandria, will take a turn np and 
down the Maritime Canal ere long. 

At Serapeuin the preparations for turning the bed 
of the Bitter Lakes into a series of inland seas were 
going on with activity. The principal object of the 
engineers is to construct a dam-head to arrest the 
flow of the waters from the Mediterranean through 
Lake Timsah, and to form an enormous reservoir from 
which the overflow will be discharged into the Lakes. 
Careful investigations have led to the conclusion that 
it will need about five months to fill the enormous 
area of the Bitter Lakes, so as not to damage the 
works, or impede the progress of the labourers in 
the other parts of the Canal. It is a vast enterprise 
to let the waters of two oceans into a basin upwards 
of 100,000 acres in extent. 

The party mounted horses and made for Chalouf, 
to which we came after a pleasant canter over the 
Desert. The station consists of a few houses of 
wood, and workshops, erected on a small plateau of 
sand. Here there have been some very curious 
remains dug up — sharks' teeth (one of which Pro- 
fessor Owen carried off with glee), wood-work appa- 
rently belonging to an ancient sluice in the Canal 
of Pharaoh Necos, some hieroglyphicized tablets, and 
a part of a monolithic image. It may be noted that 



iv.] OLD AND NEW CANALS. 87 

a traveller will find the sign-board at any rate of a 
"Hotel du Canal Maritime" there. It was 1.30 
p.m. when we halted, and after lunch we mounted 
our horses once more, and rode to the station of the 
Suez railway, where we bade farewell to the fair 
ladies, whom we most likely were never to see again, 
and watched them flying at full speed over the 
Desert back to Ismailia, till they were hid by the 
intervening sand-hills. The party crossed the old 
canal of Pharaoh Necos (Darius' Canal), which has 
been filled with fresh water, and a special carriage 
and engine took us on towards Suez. 

Sails and boats were visible on our left, where the 
Fresh- Water Canal and the Maritime Canal run 
almost parallel to the railroad. To complete the 
civilized air of the place, once sacred to solitude, 
sand, simooms, and Bedouins, telegraph posts and 
wires flank our course. Once more, after a run of 
half an hour, we left the railroad, and, mounting 
a fresh set of horses, proceeded along the line of 
the Canal works to Suez. They presented a very 
striking picture. The work here is very much 
like that in the northern sections, when the Canal 
was first begun. Salt blocks, and earth, and sand, 
and stone are being cut away, by the incessant 
exertion of upwards of 7,000 men. The course of 



88 THE GREAT CUTTINGS. [chap. 

the Canal is marked out in sections, separated by 
dams of various thicknesses and heights. As we 
rode along the bank, formed of the earth excavated 
by these hybrid multitudes, we beheld such a scene 
of activity as Egypt never saw since the days of 
the Pyramids. A Londoner may form some idea of 
it by a peep into a great cutting of the Metro- 
politan Kailway — if he fancies it ten times as broad 
and five times as deep, and fills it in his mind's eye 
with camels, asses, and half-naked Gentiles from all 
the swarming multitudes of the East. At intervals, 
on the banks, are fixed steam-engines, which drag 
up laden carts on one line of rail to discharge their 
contents over the rapidly increasing embankment 
at each side, whilst the empty carts are let down on 
another line of rails by a chain, so that the two lines 
are worked simultaneously. The soil is of a mixed 
character. Sometimes there is a section of clay, like 
that of the Lower Nile bed — sometimes calcareous 
limestone — sometimes sand ; the amount of infil- 
tration between the beds necessitates the use of 
engines to pump out the intensely salt water. The 
native workmen often sleep in the recesses, or in holes 
cut in the side, of the banks they have made, 
covered with loose planks. At every hundred paces 
or so there is a rude cabin made of nailed deal 



iv.] SUEZ IN SIGHT. 89 

boards, in which the European, whatever he may be 
— Frenchman, Italian, or Greek — has his domicile. 
For seven or eight miles we rode along the 
bank of this curious highway, crossing culverts, 
riding under water ducts, where the steam-engines 
were pumping out water or letting down trucks, and 
continually intercepting lines of asses and camels 
passing up and down the incline between the top of 
the bank and the bottom of the Canal. At last, far 
away, the high mountains over Suez came in sight, 
and presently we beheld the masts of ships in the 
road, and the houses of Suez itself. A few minutes 
more, and we see at the end of the vast trench the 
great arm of an elevator, which must be afloat. 
Again a few minutes, and there lies a filled canal 
before us. We dismount and leave our horses to 
the syces. There is a steamer waiting at the dam- 
head. We embark. A few kilometres more, and 
there comes another dam in view. We land here, 
and walk along the bank of the Canal, not yet filled, 
but deeply cut and scooped out, and alive with 
labourers. From the top of the bank a wide 
expanse of sand, now and then submerged by 
the sea, stretches away to Suez on our right. On 
the left, across the Canal, a sad fawn-coloured 
desert spreads over to the hills which rise above 



90 QN THE RED SEA.. [chap. 

the undulating lowlands of Arabia. It was almost 
with a sense of awe we looked at the Eed Sea far 
away, waiting so tranquilly to be let in to its old 
domains. Our walk is terminated by another dam, 
at the far side of which there was a canal filled 
with water, on which several elevators were busily 
engaged. Here two steam-launches awaited us. We 
embark once more. This time we are at the end of 
our journey. 

" Messieurs ! nous flottons maintenant sur les 
eaux de la Mer Eouge!" The sun had set in a blood- 
red arch over "the Plain of the Wandering" ere we 
embarked, and our course down the Canal was only 
lighted by the lanterns in the vessels. But the lights 
of Suez could now and then be seen astern of 
us, on our starboard side. The steamers were 
fast, and in less than an hour we had turned 
the end of the long jetty which runs into the sea 
and marks the course of the canal, and passing 
the Arab dows and native boats which lay along 
the course of the newly-formed pier on the western 
side of the entrance, landed at the Hotel Pier. 
What a change in Suez since I saw it in 1858! 
When the canal works began, there were only 3,000 
people in the town. There are now 20,000, and 
the greater part of the increase has taken place in 



iv.] WORKS AT SUEZ. 91 

the last year and a half. The last time I was here 
one Egyptian sloop of war, a sailing vessel, a few 
Arab dows, and one Peninsular and Oriental steamer, 
were in port. There were visible, by the light of 
the setting sun this evening, five large steamers 
belonging to the Messageries Imperiales, two French 
frigates, a French corvette, a French gunboat, one 
Egyptian passenger- ship for pilgrims to Jeddah, 
five Egyptian men-of-war, and H.M.'s transport 
Jumna, with troops from Bombay. Ali Bey was 
waiting to receive us, for we were once more the 
guests of the Viceroy. The dinner was worthy of 
one of the best hotels of Europe, the wines excel- 
lent, and When the banquet was over we were in- 
formed that there was — in Suez, mind — an excellent 
cafe chantant, where French artistes were delighting 
a polyglot fez-capped public with the latest Parisian 
songs a la Therese. 

January 29th. — The early part of the day was 
devoted to an examination of the Suez Canal Com- 
pany. Indian passengers of a few years ago will 
remember the great spread of sands just awash at 
low tide, between the hotel pier and the roadstead 
where the Peninsular and Oriental steamers were 
wont to anchor. Well, there is now cast over this 
a line of railway, not yet open, but nearly ready 



92 THE DOCKS. . [chap. 

for traffic, which, will take goods and passengers 
to and from the docks in course of construction. 
There is also a causeway extending almost parallel 
with the railroad to the establishment where the Suez 
Canal Company has formed a basin for its floating 
materiel, with extensive offices. Here, among other 
curious things, may be seen heaps of wooden frag- 
ments of ships, about which M. de Lesseps has his 
own theory. As they have been carried up by the 
dredges, from places not far apart, it is just pos- 
sible they may be the wrecks of the caravels which 
were sunk in a famous sea-fight off Suez, some 400 
years ago, when the Portuguese, rounding the Cape, 
found their way up here, and were encountered by 
the Venetian galleys and the fleet of their Turkish 
allies. 

The Bassin de 1* Arsenal is well worth a visit. A 
dry dock, upwards of 400 feet long, has been made 
by order of the Egyptian Government. This dock 
is but a part of Port Ibrahim, but the works on 
the basin are apparently suspended. It was sug- 
gested by the Messageries Imperiales ; and the Vice- 
roy, who desired to have the means of repairing 
the vessels he keeps in the Bed Sea, gave them 
permission to make a contract for the execution. 
They employed M. Dussaud, whose name is well 



iv.] PORT IBRAHIM. 93 

known in connection with, the great undertakings 
at Cherbourg, at Marseilles, and at Smyrna. The 
manner in which the dock has been executed does 
credit to the firm. There was now a large Egyptian 
vessel in it, and Captain Pickard, of the Jumna, 
told us he had taken her in and found the dock 
of great use. Whilst the party were going over 
the works, they were joined by Djemali Pasha, 
the Egyptian admiral, a smart little man in new 
uniform, the effect of which was somewhat impaired 
by his drawers falling down over his shoes. But 
for his fez he might have passed muster for a 
European flag-flier. With him were some Arab 
officers and sailors, one of whom eyed me with 
great suspicion as I was entering little notes in 
my drawing-book. At last his feelings were too 
strong for him ; he stole behind the Admiral, 
pulled his coat-tail, and directed his attention to 
my proceedings. The Admiral looked, shrugged 
bis shoulders, and went on with an expression of 
face which seemed to say, " I can't help it if they 
blow up the whole port ! " 

If the Suez Canal Company were the national 
representatives of Prance, the Government of the 
Viceroy might find ground for apprehension. The 
extremity of the extended railway, the mercantile 



94 TROOPS FROM INDIA. [chap. 

terminus, the embouchures of the Canal, will be 
in the hands of the Company. The entrances to 
Port Ibrahim will be free towards the sea, but 
towards the north-east they will be in connection 
with the naval establishment, as it may be called, 
of the Suez Canal Company. It is perfectly sure, 
however, that not only cannot the Suez Canal 
Company go to war with any one, but that war 
would be one of the most terrible disasters that 
could befall the shareholders. 

Having inspected the basins and docks, the party 
embarked in a little steamer and ran out to the 
Jumna, which was filled with drafts of the 77th, 
88th, 38th Eegiments, &c, and some artillery 
from India. The ship was as clean as a transport 
can be with 700 men on board; but the pale faces 
of the men, and the wan white children, told their 
tale ot barrack life in India. There was scarcely 
a ruddy cheek, and many a very white one, among 
the whole of the poor fellows. As we were on the 
main deck, a little girl ran out of a group of play- 
fellows to a hospital orderly, and exclaimed in 
triumph, " Oh ! I Ve seen the dead man ! I Ve seen 
the dead man ! " The Eed Sea exacts heavy tolls 
from the homeward bound. 

There was just time on our return to shore to 



iv.] ARRIVAL IN CAIRO. 95 

take another run through the bazaars, which still 
present a good picture of Oriental life. The old 
back streets are wonderfully tumble-down and pic- 
turesque, but the main thoroughfares are Judaized, 
and Chinese pictures and Paris photographs are to 
be had, which it would be much better not to 
have. 

At half-past 2 the party left Suez by special 
train, and arrived in their quarters at the Palace 
on the Schoubra Eoad, Cairo, soon after 8 o'clock. 

Everything just as they left it ; rooms, servants, 
lights, banquets. Ali Eisa went off to the Viceroy, 
to render an account of the trip. The excursion had 
afforded amusement and instruction to every one of 
the party, varying, indeed, in kind. Mr. Fowler 
was full of engineering facts and interesting details. 
Professor Owen had added, if that were possible, 
to the stores of his scientific knowledge. He had 
beheld with rapture the impress of a bare foot 
upon the desert sand, which he said filled him 
with particular emotion, as it gave him an idea 
how the marks read now with such interest were 
made millions of years ago in primeval Sandstone. 
Each entertained a different shade of belief, re- 
specting the work itself; and if the sanguine 
regarded the Canal as a fait accompli for the 15th 



96 GENERAL IMPRESSIONS. [chap, m 

of October, others postponed the date, and be- 
lieved it would take much more time and money 
ere the triumph was achieved. But all were im- 
pressed by the magnitude of the undertaking, and 
admitted that it had attained a development for 
which they were not prepared. In acknowledging 
the candour and courtesy of their late companions, 
there was a natural regret that, from various causes, 
our countrymen had been led to look on the enter- 
prise with a feeling stronger than coldness, and that 
to France, or at least to Frenchmen, would belong, 
the great renown which must follow from the com- 
pletion of the Canal that promises to do so much 
for the civilized world. 



CHAPTEE V. 



HEKEKAN BEY. THE MUSEUM AT BOULAK. KASR-EL- 

NIL. THE CONSULAR TRIBUNALS. THE PRINCE AND 

PRINCESS TN CAIRO. 

For some days, whilst waiting the arrival of the 
Prince and Princess of Wales in Cairo, we had 
nothing to do, except visit places of interest. "We 
knew the Ariadne had left Trieste on the 27th, 
and that she was contending with the waves of 
the Adriatic. 

The delay afforded opportunity to make pur- 
chases, to inspect bazaars and mosques, and to 
partake of the hospitalities which the Viceroy was 
bent upon dispensing. 

Dining with Count Walclstein, one night, I had 
the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Heke- 
kan Bey, an Armenian gentleman resident in Cairo, 
whose name is mentioned in almost every book 
or letter written about that city. Formerly in the 
service of the Yiceroy, he has retired in his old 
age, yet green and vigorous, to pursue his researches 
after the mystic meaning of the old Egyptian 

H 



98 THE BEY'S THEORIES. [chap. 

monuments, and to cultivate his critical faculties 
in the pursuit of the true character of civilization, 
the religious, philosophical, and metaphysical 
formulae, of which so many traces lie around him 
in the land of his adoption. One of the old 
regime, he is not, perhaps, so favourably impressed 
with the somewhat violent efforts of the Govern- 
ment to civilize the Egyptians of to-day, as he 
might be. A Christian, and a freemason, and a 
mathematician, he is a profound believer in the 
immense extent and profundity of ancient Egyptian 
knowledge. To hear him speak, one would believe 
that, in astronomy, the Egyptians of the time of 
Pharaoh were, at least, as well versed as the Astro- 
nomer Royal. His conversation was, to us all, 
singularly interesting, instructive, and novel. Speak- 
ing Euglish with the greatest purity and ease (and, 
indeed, what language does he not speak?) the 
graceful old Armenian was wont to sit for hours 
telling us of adventures amongst the Arabs of the 
desert, when he was out surveying for the Govern- 
ment in times gone by, or propounding with the 
utmost animation his astounding theories concern- 
ing the nature of Egyptian monuments, to which 
he attributed the deepest significance to be under- 
stood only by the instructed. 



v.] A CAIRENE [INTERIOR. 99 

I was much interested by a visit which I paid 
my friend one day at his house. It was close to 
our so-called palace, surrounded by a lofty wall, 
enclosing a courtyard in front and a large garden 
in the rear. At the gateway slumbered an ancient 
janitor, who pointed to the courtyard and called 
out lazily to one of the servants within, when I 
asked for his master. Three of the Bey's horses, 
half-buried in the green pulse which is now given 
in enormous quantities to cattle to prepare them 
for the summer droughts, stood at one side of the 
hall- door in the court. A dromedary, beautifully 
caparisoned, was in another corner, with its atten- 
dant by its head. Some goats were feeding in 
another place close to a great Syrian house-dog, and 
a couple of syces, with their heads covered, were 
sleeping in the shade of a tree. I passed through 
the hall to an inner court, where an Arab met me. 
He led me upstairs to the library, where the vener- 
able Bey sat, at a desk covered with piles of manu- 
script in inscrutable characters, feeding on books. 

About this Arab there is a little story. He is a 
real child of the desert. "When quite a boy, his leg 
was broken by a fall from a camel. Hekekan 
Bey set the limb, and won the man's affection so 
thoroughly that he renounced his nomad life, and 

h 2 



100 VOLUNTARY SLAVERY. [chap. 

is now a staid domestic in the house. After a 
while he went off to the desert, and there married 
a woman of his tribe. But nothing would induce 
her to abandon her people. Periodically she comes 
to Cairo and visits her husband, and after a few 
days she returns to the desert. Although full of 
gratitude to the Bey for his kindness to her hus- 
band, she has never yet let him see her face. She 
sits veiled in his presence ; and only to the ladies 
of his household does she uncover. 

I was presented to the wife of the Bey, and to 
the wife of his son. The latter speaks French with 
fluency ; but I could only carry on conversation 
with the elder lady by the assistance of the Bey, 
who occasionally had to translate some lively in- 
vective against his studies and pursuits from Syrian 
into English. Coffee was brought in by a young 
negress. Slavery is prohibited in Egypt ; but, never- 
theless, there are in the houses of nearly every 
Egyptian, who can afford to pay for them, natives 
of Nubia, Abyssinia, and the Soudan, in a condi- 
tion which may be called voluntary slavery. They 
could, we are told, go to the police-stations and 
claim their liberty. But they do not. Some 
doubting philosophers maintain that the abolition 
of slavery is more a form of speech than a fact. 



v.] TEE MUSEUM AT BOULAK. 101 

Any way, this black handmaid would not leave 
her home for the world. Where, indeed, could 
she be so well off as in the house of this con- 
siderate master, who never could regard a human 
creature as a chattel? 

One of the most pleasant excursions during 
our stay in Cairo, was to the Museum of Antiqui- 
ties at Boulak, a suburb on the Nile, which is 
regarded as the port of Cairo. Every one who is 
interested in Egyptian antiquities has heard, at all 
events, of Mariette Bey ; but only those who have 
seen this admirable collection can appreciate the 
immense services he has rendered to antiquaries and 
to historians, as only those who have conversed 
with him can appreciate his felicity of illustration, 
variety of knowledge, and vivacity of expression. 

The preparations for the Boyal reception received 
some impetus or development every day. The 
Palace in which their Boyal Highnesses and suite 
were to lodge became more brilliant with chan- 
deliers and mirrors, and damask hangings. Bed- 
steads of solid silver, mirrors set in costly frames, 
luxurious ottomans, were poured into the place. 
Dozens of gardeners were employed to force the vege- 
tation of some flowers in the patch of sandy soil 
between the walls of the Palace and the railing that 



102 EGYPTIAN PHILOSOPHY. [chap. 

separates it from the street. The new theatre, or 
circus, was pushed rapidly forward, men toiling 
night and day. Fresh coats of paint, and more 
gilding, were laid on the boats of the Eoyal flotilla. 
A menagerie arrived. A troop of dancers. Cooks 
were summoned from Alexandria. Stores of pro- 
visions laid in sufficient, one would think, for a 
journey after Livingstone himself. 

Every morning the first question asked was, " Any 
news of the Prince and Princess ? " 

Ali Bey, reflecting the Viceregal emotions, became 
uneasy. I saw him one morning, in company with, 
another Bey, sitting in our garden under a tree, 
consoling himself with, a pipe and coffee whilst the 
breakfast was getting ready. " These things," said 
he, " are in the hands of God ; lie must know 
the Prince has now been 144 hours at sea." It is 
not an all- pervading belief in the actual presiding 
influence of the Almighty which makes every 
Oriental speak in some such fashion ; it is a habit 
of expression with many. The reprobate cobbler, 
who never gives the smallest thought to the in- 
junctions of the Koran, has an inscription over 
his door from the sacred volume invoking the pro- 
tection of God, and begins bis day's work, or idle- 
ness, with a pious ejaculation from the same source. 



v.] A FALSE ALARM. 103 

On 2nd February, returning from an excursion 

through the town, and a visit to Mr. Ivanovieh's 

remarkable collection of curiosities and antiquities, 

the Duke received a dispatch from Colonel Stanton, 

to announce that the Ariadne was just crossing 

the Bar. The Yiceroy was in readiness in his 

Palace ; guards were paraded ; all the personages 

of the Court were in full uniform ; cooks were busy 

preparing the feast, when a later telegram announced 

it was an error. It was the Psyche, which had been 

taken for the Ariadne — the Soul for the Mesh — not 

an uncommon mistake. 

" What can have become of the Prince and Prin- 
ts JJ 

cess r 

A theory was gaining ground that the Prince and 
Princess had put into Corfu. All the official world 
in Cairo was in a ferment. 

I say " official world," because the circle over 
which such an event exercises any influence in Egypt 
is small indeed. Hundreds, nay, thousands of people 
in Cairo, know nothing about the coming visit. To 
the apathy of an Oriental race, in all matters except 
religion, must be added an immense ignorance. 

Wednesday, February 3rd. — At last they are 
coming ! There is no doubt about it this time. 
The Yiceroy has received a telegram to report 



104 EGYPTIAN BARRACKS. [chap. 

tliat tlie Ariadne is coming in hand - over - hand 
towards Alexandria, with Prince and Princess on 
board all well. 

The Court was once more stirred to its depths. 
The Viceroy's household was at once roused to the 
fullest activity. 

I have already described the palace of Kasr-el- 
Nil. It forms but a portion of a series of large 
buildings occupied by soldiers. As in most cities, 
the Barrack is not far from the Palace. It would 
teach the builders of such edifices as some home 
barracks a lesson in some respects, if they could see 
the amount of light and air, and at the same time 
protection from sun and heat, which is afforded 
in these barracks, by the arrangement of spacious 
balconies and verandahs. The Viceroy has but to 
look out of a window, and he will see, on one side, 
his soldiers, horse and foot, drilling and manoeuvring, 
beneath the shade of the trees, in the broad parade- 
ground, and, on the other, the boat-covered Nile, 
its banks teeming with people and vegetation. 

The Zouaves of the Gruard, with a troop of Lancers, 
were drawn up in the court, facing the palace. The 
men appeared too big for the small active white 
horses, by which they were standing at ease ; 
but there was no fault to find in other respects 



v.] EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS. 105 

with their personnel. They wear a red fez, blue 
jacket with yellow facings, loose scarlet trousers 
and boots, and are armed with a sabre, a lance 
with green and purple nag, and a revolver carried 
in the holster. Their horses were not well groomed, 
and their accoutrements were so ill cleaned as to 
draw an exclamation, not laudatory, from our 
colonel. Still there is an immense improvement, 
according to European notions, in the army, 
since I last saw it ten years ago. In the inner 
court we found a regiment of infantry drawn up 
in columns of companies, which might have been 
mistaken at a little distance for the Zouaves of the 
Imperial Guard. A closer view would show that 
the men were taller, and that they were more stiff 
in bearing. A severe - looking captain was busy 
adjusting his line, by pressing back protrusive 
breasts with the flat of his sword, and he threw 
down one objectionable chin with a smart tap 
thereon. The officers, but for the fez, would 
pass muster for those of the army of our gallant 
allies ; gold-lace epaulettes, dark-blue frock coats, 
small waists, baggy red trousers, patent leather 
boots — " a sudden look they would beguile." France 
affords the chosen model of the army of the Vice- 
roy and Said Pasha spared no pains and expense 



106 TEE PREPARATIONS [chap. 

to approximate as closely as he could to his well- 
beloved beau ideal. The men are still armed with 
muzzle-loading rifles, with cumbrous sights and 
bright barrels. Just as with us, so here, the soldier, 
when he has nothing to do, is best pleased to look 
at a parade ; and the balconies of the spacious quad- 
rangle were filled with the men of another battalion 
gazing at their fellows. 

By the wall of the Palace over the river, where 
the boats of the Eoyal flotilla were moored, a crowd 
of English collected about 4 o'clock. Nor, indeed, 
were the Americans, who, next to our own people, 
are the most numerous visitors to Egypt, absent. 

The railway sends off a branch to the Palace, and 
the platform abuts upon the garden, so that a 
passenger can walk from his carriage to the porch. 

Six open carriages, with coachmen, grooms, and 
outriders, in English liveries, were drawn up in the 
inner court. As the Viceroy is anxious to patronize 
both forms of civilization, he has also French 
fourgons, Normandy horses, French postillions, 
turned out in the unimpeachable style of M. 
Fleury's dictatorship under the Second Empire. 
English horses, carriages, liveries, and servants, for 
His Highness's personal use, are due, mainly, to the 
influence of Mr. Smart. A guard of honour, with 



v.-j KASR-EL-ML. 107 

standards, was in attendance on the railway plat- 
form ; knots of wonderfully brilliant staff officers, 
of equerries, and aides-de-camp, formed around the 
entrance to the Palace ; and the great officers of 
state, in grande tenue, thronged the hall and the 
passages. It was a very pretty scene, full of 
colour and light, quickened by the rays of a bright 
sun, which did not deprive the air of a keenness 
natives and strangers agree in finding rather trying. 
The Nile, crisped by a fresh breeze ; a regatta-like 
fleet of lateen-rigged boats, beating, or running up 
and down ; the shores lined with palm trees, shaking 
their tufted crests in the wind ; the irregular out- 
lines of houses, over which appear the tops of the 
Pyramids, — these formed the background to the 
picture. In the immediate front the colonnades of 
the barracks, crowded with soldiers, the lines of 
troops under arms, officers, and the gaily-dressed 
crowds of ladies, forming a framework, to the front. 

On the arrival of our party, we were shown 
into the hall, and were summoned to the Viceroy's 
presence. He was most anxious to know if every- 
thing had been done for the accommodation of his 
expected visitors; and after a time, His Highness 
led us into the courtyard, and descending the steps 
to the Nile, proceeded to conduct us over the 



108 THE ROYAL SQUADRON. [chap. 

steamers, and trie dababeahs, in which the Royal 
party were to make the excursion up the river. 

No expense bad been spared to render tbe craft, 
inside and out, worthy of those whom the. Yiceroy 
desired to honour. Double - pile carpets to walk 
upon ; gilt-legged damask-covered chairs to sit upon ; 
luxurious satin couches to recline upon ; mirrors 
and brilliant panels to gaze upon ; devices such as 
Cleopatra never dreamt of, were prepared for the 
comfort of the Prince and Princess. It was puzzling 
to decide whether they ought to live on board the 
steamer, which was intended for their reception by 
day, or on board the dahabeah which was fitted up 
for their accommodation by night. 

After we had admired everything sufficiently, the 
Yiceroy returned to the Palace, and I had the 
honour of a conversation in his private reception 
room. The question of the tribunals mainly 
exercised him — that question which rises and meets 
one at every turn in Egypt, and of which I have 
heard so much since my arrival, and of which most 
people know so little. " There are sixteen distinct 
nations living in Egypt," said the Viceroy, "and 
each nation is independent of my Courts, and 
forms a distinct government of its own. They 
administer sixteen distinct forms of justice, or, as it 



v.] THE CONSULAR TRIBUNALS. 109 

often happens, of injustice. How is a country to 
be governed, how are my subjects to respect the law, 
when they see foreigners who have every privilege, 
whilst they are exempt from every service, enjoying 
a separate jurisdiction, and, although often opposing 
each other, agreeing invariably in resistance to the 
authorities of the country in which they live? I 
ask nothing more than the formation of a court of 
European judges, to be appointed by the Great 
Powers, and to be paid by me, who, sitting with 
Egyptian judges, shall conduct the trial of offences, 
according to a code accepted by foreigners and by 
Egyptians alike." 

His Highness evidently feels more deeply upon 
this matter than upon all or any other affecting 
Egypt. 

" Notwithstanding these tribunals," he proceeded, 
€t Egypt has prospered enormously. But we want 
colonists. I do not mean labourers, for no European 
could undergo the toil of the fellah who is obliged 
to work with his body in the sun, and his feet in the 
water, day after day, for many months ; but intel- 
ligent artizans, workmen of various sorts, and skilled 
mechanics, to whom my Government would offer 
large advantages, liberal pay, and grants of land. 
There is no fear of any fanatical opposition to their 



110 THE PLAGUE OF EGYPT. [chap. 

settlement. We in Egypt are really liberal, and 
admit the existence of religious differences amongst 
ns. "We do not insist upon the profession of any 
faith as an essential condition of public service. Let 
a man be honest and capable, and I care not whether 
he be Armenian, Catholic, or Mussulman \ but before 
colonization is possible, the question of the Consular 
tribunals must be settled." 

Among the causes assigned by the Viceroy for 
some little check to the progress of Egypt recently, 
was the epizootie. Strange to hear the Pharaoh of 
to-day speaking of the cattle plague in terms that 
might have been used by the King who would not 
let the people of Israel go ! The murrain which 
destroyed oxen, camels, sheep, and goats, did not 
affect the buffalo. A learned Egyptian, in talking 
of this, insinuated that the cattle of the children 
of Israel which were exempted from the plague 
were buffaloes ; but there appears to be no warranty 
for this interpretation of the miracle. 

Prom time to time there came in officers with 
little scraps of paper to the Viceroy, and, handing 
them to him with a low reverence, they stood till 
His Highness had read. These were telegrams re- 
porting the progress of the Prince and Princess. 
" They are now an hour from Alexandria." — C£ They 



v.] THE ROYAL APPROACH. Ill 

have had lunch." — " They are coming on again," — 
" They have passed such a station." As the train 
came nearer, the Viceroy was more at ease ; for the 
fear of accident, little likely as it was, could not 
quite be dismissed from his mind. 

It was now near 5 o'clock. The last telegram 
came in : " The Royal train is approaching Cairo." 

" And now I must go and put on my uniform." 
He had been wearing that very un- Oriental garb 
which is in favour among Oriental personages, the 
Quaker-cut single-breasted black frock coat. 

In a few moments more we heard the whistle of 
the engine, the officers calling the troops to atten- 
tion in Arabic, the band on the platform striking 
up " Grod save the Queen," which degenerated, or was 
elevated, into that quaint air which serves as the 
Egyptian national hymn, — wild, martial, and not 
unmusical. 

The Yiceroy passed through the garden from his 
Palace, followed by a great crowd of his officers of 
state, of the army, of the navy, and of his suite. He 
wore a blue frock coat, which was a mass of gold lace 
— that rich Egyptian lace, more golden and splendid 
than similar manufacture in any place I have been 
in — the riband of the Order of the Bath, and star 
of diamonds ; a curved scimitar, the hilt of which 



112 ARRIVAL AT THE PALACE. [chap. 

seemed a great concrete of diamonds ; and the 
universal fez, which it is impossible to ornament, 
and which mars the effect of uniform, however 
magnificent. He arrived on the platform just as 
the American carriage, in which were the Prince 
and Princess of Wales and their suite, slowly drew 
alongside. There was a real cheer from the 
English as the Prince and Princess appeared. 
The Viceroy, stepping forward, welcomed them in 
the most cordial manner, and led the way with 
the Princess of Wales upon his arm, the Prince, 
who wore his full uniform as a general officer, 
being a little in advance. 

There was a brief delay inside the Palace ere the 
royal travellers reappeared. The Prince of Wales, 
coming out first, stepped into a handsome open 
carriage with two pair of fine English greys, and 
took his seat with his back to the horses. The 
Princess of Wales, leaning on the arm of the Viceroy, 
was next handed in. Then came a little difficulty. 
The Viceroy would insist upon the Prince changing 
places. The Prince demurred. But who could resist 
the Viceroy in Egypt ? And so, after this inter- 
change of courtesies, the Eoyal party drove off, with 
the Viceroy facing his guests, who sat in the place 
of honour. Tewfik Pasha handed Mrs. Grey into 



v.] THE ESBEKIAH PALACE. 113 

the next carriage ; and the members of the suite 
went off in order in the equipages provided for them, 
the escort of Lancers having wheeled in after the 
first carriage and covered the others with the dust, 
which arises on the least provocation in Cairo. The 
reception given to their Eoyal Highnesses was 
enthusiastic. Waving handkerchiefs, upraised hats, 
and cheers, marked the welcome of the response 
of the English and European spectators ; but 
when the cortege emerged from the Palace 
gates, and passed out along the dusty road 
towards the new Palace, they met only the 
half-scared look of the crowd which, swept away 
for a moment by the cavalcade against the walls, 
fell out into the streets again, and watched 
with a sort of languid curiosity the cloud which 
marked the progress of the party towards their 
new home — for home, it was, so far as the Viceroy 
could make it so. There was a guard of honour 
at the gates of the Esbekiah Palace, there were 
aides-de-camp in waiting, and the crowd of deferen- 
tial servants in the hall. The Viceroy led his 
guests in, showed them over the rooms, and 
then retired. It was almost like living in 
public to be in rooms where numberless mirrors 
turned one man into a crowd. Four-posters of 

i 



114 THE CAIRO THEATRE. [chap. 

silver, marble fountains, furniture clotted with 
precious metals, immense chandeliers, and gigantic 
looking-glasses in prodigious saloons, failed to give 
the air which only can be realized in the 
palaces of an ancient civilization, where pictures 
and objects of art, and books, and a hundred little 
evidences of taste, have been accumulated for gene- 
rations. One gentleman of the suite had to sleep in 
an apartment very like an unfinished metropolitan 
church, with a marble floor, and a most costly 
fountain of the same material, which in its mercy, 
however, had given up playing. 

After dinner there was a performance at the 
theatre, to which the Prince and Princess and 
suite went. The Viceroy received them at the opera- 
house, and sat with them during the performance. 
It was not a theatre pare, but all the officers 
of state were present, and the house was tolerably 
well filled. In the pit there was an audience, most 
of them wearing the fez, a few the Coptic turban, 
others dressed in European fashion ; no ladies. The 
boxes presented little to distinguish them, but for 
the intrusion of the inevitable tarboosh, and the 
quaint head-dress and faces of the negro servitors. 
Four boxes were set apart for the suite. Directly 
opposite the Prince and Princess were two large 



v.] THE HAREM BOXES. 115 

boxes, next the stage, in front of which was a 
lattice-work, from top to bottom, close and fine — 
so close, indeed, as to render it impossible for a 
searching opera-glass to pierce its mysteries. These 
boxes were ^ not empty, for a certain variation of 
colour in the background, and a play of bright hues 
inside, showed that the ladies of the harem, nearly 
invisible to the outer world, were inside seeing every- 
thing. Was it because a gap at the lattice-work 
allowed a curious stranger to get a glimpse of a 
face within, that an envious mat was suddenly thrust 
into it by a black-faced, beardless gentleman in 
attendance ? It is said that the Viceroy is meditating 
a great coup. That lattice-work is some day to 
disappear, and the ladies of the court are to sit 
unveiled in the presence of the people. But that 
day, from all I can hear, must be long distant. 
The pieces — " Le Serment d'Horace " and " Con- 
tributions Indirectes " — imported from the Palais 
Eoyal, seemed not unsuited to the Cairo audience. 
They took the points, laughed at the jokes, 
applauded the morceaux when the Viceroy deigned 
to nod ; and if there was a little broadness 
of tone in dialogue and acting, there was 
certainly nothing of the wantonness of undress 
which we see at home in Christmas panto- 

i 2 



116 STREET ARABS. [chap. 

mimes. The theatre is about the size of the 
Hay market. There is a cafe attached to it, a 
restaurant, a bouquetiere, bills of the play, and a 
saloon where smokers congregate between the acts. 
And when you go out into the street^ there is the 
fellah lying on the bare earth, wrapped in his cloak, 
and the wild dogs baying the moon, and the police 
calling out the Arab watchwords of the night. 

The contrast is striking to a stranger, because 
he is looking out for such anomalies. Perhaps 
if he were passing through the purlieus of Drury 
Lane or Covent Garden after the performance of 
play or opera, he would, on examination, discover a 
more discordant, significant, and terrible antithesis. 
The fellah is not a freeborn Briton with innume- 
rable proud privileges — he is to the manner born, 
and can sleep where and how he lists, without 
fear of vagrant laws, police cells, or magistrates. 
"When I was conversing with the Viceroy to-day, 
I took the liberty of expressing the regret with 
which I saw children of tender years employed 
mending the streets of Cairo, in charge of task- 
masters. His Highness regretted it too ; but he 
had his retort. 

" You have also in London, my dear, your little 
Arabs — vos Arabes de la rue. T have seen them. 



v.] SMITING TEE EGYPTIANS. 117 

T am quite sure they are far more to be pitied 
than the little ones of whom you speak, each of 
whom has some one to care for it, and who is at 
least not a criminal, nor likely to become a pest to 
society." 

The "smiting" which was in vogue long ago in 
the land, is a habit which does not, however, appear 
so shocking to us, perhaps, as it must be to other 
foreigners. There is much more use of the hand 
in England, and among Anglo - Saxon populations 
— of the argument called a " blow " — than on the 
Continent. To strike one who displeases us is a 
natural expedient, only to be restrained by fear or 
coerced by law — either of public opinion or of police. 
But in Egypt it would seem as if no one dreamt 
of resisting the application of it on the part of a 
superior, or of obtaining redress. Whoever can hit, 
cuff, or kick, does it freely. Sir Anthony Absolute's 
mode of ruling a household, and its results, may be 
seen any day in the streets. There was a curious 
illustration of this rule the other morning near 
Shepheard's Hotel. Two men had a dispute over 
some matter of sale, and from words one of them, 
the larger and stronger, resorted to a sounding box 
on the eye of his antagonist. The latter put his 
hand to his face, looked round with one glaring 



118 THE MECCA PILGRIMAGE. [chap. 

orb at the crowd which had been collected by the 
controversy, and singling out a laughing donkey -boy, 
administered to him a tremendous cuff on the side 
of the head. A few yards away there sat a child 
of eight or nine years of age against the wall of a 
house, innocently sucking a piece of sugar-cane. The 
donkey-boy at once charged him, and kicked him 
in the ribs. The little fellow looked up, uttered a 
cry of rage, and seizing a large paving-stone which 
lay close at hand, flung it — at the donkey-boy? — 
oh, certainly not ! but at a poor street dog, which 
lay asleep close at hand. The dog immediately went 
off howling, and no doubt bit a small puppy to 
ease its mind ; and what revenge the puppy took is 
beyond my knowledge, but no doubt he did some- 
thing vindictive in his turn. 

February 4th. — A bright sun and cold wind. 
The Eoyal party were up early, and drove in car- 
riages through the bazaar to the Citadel, to see the 
departure of the pilgrims with the Holy Carpet 
to Mecca. 

Of the thousands of Europeans who visit Cairo, 
there are few who have the fortune to behold the 
spectacle, which may be described in many books 
to me unknown, but which can never be adequately 
described in any book at all. The sight is called 



v.] MAHMAL AND KISWEH. 119 

" the departure of trie Pilgrims for Mecca." That 
is a misnomer. It is in reality a procession of 
sheiks and holy men and the sacred Mahmal and 
Kisweh, escorted by irregular cavalry and guns, 
which leaves the city to go out to the real pilgrims 
encamped on the plain outside Cairo. The Mahmal 
is a wooden canopy covered with gold brocade and 
silk, which is symbolical of the litter of Sheger- 
ed-Deen, the wife of the Sultan Es-Saleh-lSTebn- 
ed-Deen, on her journey to Mecca. The Kisweh 
is the covering which is put over the Kaabeh, 
in the Temple at Mecca. Several days ago the 
pilgrims set out from Cairo, and encamped on the 
Abbasaya. What rites and ceremonies they may 
have been since performing, inside and out, I know 
not ; but last night all sightseers were warned that 
the ceremonial was to come off soon after 9 o'clock. 
At that hour the Viceroy's carriages were in waiting 
at the Prince's Palace, and a guard of honour, with 
a trumpet band, was drawn up in the open space 
between the building and the street. There were 
very few people attracted by the show of horses and 
guards; but the crowds which gathered in the narrow 
streets through which the procession was to pass, 
gave proof of the enormous population of this 
swarming city. The Prince, Princess, and suite, 



120 ROUTE TO THE CITADEL. [chap. 

attended by the Duke of Sutherland and his party, 
set out about 10 o'clock, and drove to the open 
space beneath the Citadel, famous as the scene of 
the demolition of the Mamelukes by Mehemet 
Ali. They were preceded by horsemen, and by the 
running footmen who are the heralds of every 
carriage in Cairo — by night pillars of fire ; by day 
bounding with feet that never tire before the horses, 
crying out incessantly in Arabic, freely translated, 
"Mind your toes!" or, "Look out, there!" To a 
man of cruel or arbitrary disposition the office must 
be enviable, for it gives, apparently, a right to the 
bearer to smite whatever and whomever he pleases. 
The number of unoffending men, and camels, and 
asses punished in Cairo every day by smart raps 
of a long cane, for doing nothing at all but being 
alive, by these officials, must amount to many 
hundreds ; and they all bear it with equal mind and 
body. The route from the Prince's Palace to the 
Citadel lies through a part of the town which is, 
perhaps, the most striking and interesting of all 
Cairo. Familiar as the city is to European tra- 
vellers, there is about its streets an ingredient of 
what may be understood, though not defined, by 
the word " Orientalism, " which is ever suggesting 
new ideas, or reviving old ones. A good deal of 



v.] THE BAZAARS. 121 

interest, no doubt, is due to the belief which un- 
consciously underlies the spectator's wonder that 
he is looking at people who are in thought, dress, 
and habits very much what they were many centuries 
ago, and who, all alive, are yet as dead as if 
they were mummified for all the purposes of this 
progressive, practical, prosaical half-century. The 
streets wind in and out at discretion, through a 
mass of houses, mosques, and bazaars, very much 
as mites march through a cheese. The word 
" street " gives no conception of the lane which 
scarcely ever yields a view of 100 yards in front or 
behind, and which at times seems to end abruptly 
in the cordial greeting of two houses at opposite 
sides. There is quite enough to detain the stranger 
for a pleasant ten minutes — for every ten paces if 
he likes — to loiter and be jostled by asses and 
shoved aside by the crowd, or scared by growling, 
fierce-toothed camels. There are the shops, with 
their varied stores and still more varied owners 
and customers, the incorrigible, persecuting, stick- 
disregarding donkey-boys, who never desist from 
importunate solicitation to mount " Champagne 
Charley," "Lord John Kussell," " Palmer st on," or 
some other famous quadruped with long ears and 
indomitable back-bone. Over the shops rises the 



122 WOMEN IN THE STREETS. [chap. 

lattice-windowed frontage of the houses, sometimes 
projecting from the drawing-room floor upwards on 
frail beams, sometimes coyly retiring, seldom guilty 
of a real perpendicular. While all below is life, 
and noise, and activity, from the first floor upwards 
there is silence in the house. Now and then a 
child may be caught sight of at the lattice, or a 
draped face gleams out of a pair of inquiring eyes 
on the world below; but mostly there is a blank 
in the Egyptian quarter. To-day this was changed, 
and all womankind was enjoying its rare holy day, 
and enjoying it more, perhaps, too, than its sister- 
hood in England would if it were all going off to 
the poll, headed by Miss Becker and Mr. Mill, to 
record its vote for some political Apollo Belvedere. 
The women, clad in sweeping robes, which in their 
combination form such tempting, yet distracting 
subjects, for the artist who loves to paint masses of 
coloured drapery, sat with their children chattering 
in every safe recess in the streets. They gazed out 
of the latticed windows, through the sluice-like open 
traps, and through the open casements, crowded 
the flat roofs, swarmed on the mosque-tops, and 
clustered in the doorways. If eyes can be an 
index to the character of the rest of the face, many 
of the ladies must have been very beautiful; but 



v.] THE CROWD. 123 

some showed the ravages of ophthalmia, which the 
artifice of blackened eyebrows only made more 
evident. The men and boys of the different nations 
and faiths which have their representatives here 
— Arabs, Jews, Copts, Syrians, Egyptians, Turks, 
Franks, Nubians, Albanians, Anatolians, Greeks, 
Persians, Circassians, "barbarians," and dwellers in 
partibus infidelium, dressed each after his kind, lined 
the streets and sat in the bazaar shops, and on the 
shifting kaleidoscopic multitude, over which the fine 
dust rose from the tread of many feet, there came 
down, through the chinks in the latticed screen 
which covers in the street, rays of sunshine which 
produced the most striking and charming effects. 
Through this scene imagine camels plodding along 
with ponderous loads of green vetches, asses hidden 
under mounds of vegetables and tares for fodder, 
or laden with important portions of a small 
family ; horses and ponies, and their riders ; mules 
and dromedaries, with their turbaned or veiled 
burdens ; and then, pressing through the throng, 
an advance guard of native outriders, followed by 
a host of running footmen, in front of an open 
carriage with prancing horses, driven by an unmis- 
takable British coachman, — and fancy the expression 
of delight and surprise on the fair face, dear to so 



124 THE CITADEL. [chap. 

many millions of people in islands far away. Now 
and then, when a refractory camel blocked the path, 
or a dog gave warning of some small personal grief, 
or the carriage was caught at a narrow corner by 
stray dromedaries with far-extending platforms on 
their backs, the Princess evinced a transient 
anxiety. The good humour of the people, their 
civility and temper, as carriage after carriage 
came crushing and squeezing them out of the 
roadway into shop-fronts and side lanes — nay, 
even the placidity of holy men and dervishes ot 
renown, whose donkeys and camels were cuffed, and 
whose venerable persons were shoved unceremoni- 
ously aside — were much to be commended. At last 
the cortege emerged into the open space below the 
Citadel. Here, round the sides of a large extent of 
cleared ground, were drawn up the troops of the 
line, Lancers and Zouaves of the Guard, and the 
400 irregular cavalry which were to guard the 
pilgrims and escort the treasure annually sent to 
the sheiks of the Arab tribes and to Mecca. Behind 
this line were congregated crowds of people. They 
were on the citadel walls, on the flat roofs, and on 
the sides of the mosques, wherever they could see; 
and above them all shone a bright sun in a sky 
of heavenly blue. As the Prince and Princess of 



v.] TEE PROCESSION. 125 

Wales came in sight, the troops presented arms 
along the lines, the irregular cavalry tapped their 
little saucer-like drums, and the bands saluted 
with the Zouave " As tu vu la casquette, &c, de 
Pere Bugeaud," now familiar to so many Britishers. 
The carriages drove up to a raised dais, draped 
with curtains of scarlet and gold, and provided 
with chairs, where the Viceroy's eldest son, Tewfik 
Pasha, surrounded by the officers of State in full 
uniform, received them. Seats were provided for 
the Consular body and their friends and the principal 
residents and visitors. Indeed, a white face, a bad 
hat and shabby travelling clothes, seem to be a 
passport here to every place. The Prince made the 
acquaintance of the little Pasha, the Viceroy's 
youngest son, who was beautiful in scarlet stockings, 
scarlet and gold knickerbockers, and a cream-coloured 
jacket slashed with gold lace. The superior officers, 
mounted on their richly caparisoned Arabs, sat in 
front of the dais. After a time the head of the pro- 
cession emerged from under an archway at the 
opposite side of the esplanade. It was preceded 
by men with sticks to keep away the crowd, who 
certainly cc kept their sticks going " in a way which 
would astonish a line of beaters in a home covert. 
Then came men and boys chanting and shouting 



126 THE REVOLVING HEAD. [chap. 

in front of the camels, one of which bore the 
Mahmal. Some sustained lofty saddles and saddle 
hags, decorated with orange branches and short flag- 
staffs with banners; others carried holy hadjees or 
sheiks. One was honoured by a peculiar, if not 
agreeable load — a very sainted personage, whose 
great merit it was and is, to keep turning his 
head round on his neck, as if it were fixed on 
a universal joint, all the way to Mecca. This man, 
very crass and unctuous, was bare headed ; his 
grizzled, dirty-looking locks, divided in the centre, 
being his only covering from the blazing sun of 
Arabia. His body was stripped down to the 
waist, and gave evidence that, in spite of his head 
turnings, the holy man put on flesh wonderfully. 
His eyelids were half closed, his fat face had an 
utter want of expression, quite suitable to the head 
it belonged to, which went round and round at 
every jog of the much more intelligent-looking camel 
which he bestrode. Year after year this saint has 
turned his empty head, and seems none the worse 
— nay, all the better for it ; though thousands of his 
fellow-pilgrims, who do not turn their heads, perish 
miserably in the pilgrimage. "When the holy camel 
of the Kisweh came to the dais, the Pasha was 
handed one of the holy cords, and kissed it, and 



v.] THE CHIEF OF THE CARAVAN. 127 

then the chief sheik took it and kissed it, and 
the procession of camels, of singing men and 
shouting boys, defiled twice in a circle in front 
of the dais, while the guns of the citadel thundered 
out a salute, and then marched away towards 
the city to take part in the greater procession. 
Now, dashing at full speed from the end of 
the esplanade, came a solitary horseman holding 
a long quivering lance, which he poised across 
his saddle, and now and then thrust right 
and left. This was the leader of the irregular 
horsemen, "the Lord of the Land," a great chief 
in Egypt this day. He threw his horse on his 
haunches with a cruel bit, wheeled round, wielding 
but not throwing his lance, and careless of the 
multitude, which now broke into the enclosed space 
and pressed round the dais. It is the habit to 
give money annually at this festival, and frightful 
fighting and confusion ensued ; but in consideration 
for the Princess it was not observed. The results 
of a scramble might be guessed from the scene 
which occurred when the police and the cavalry had 
to clear the way through the " people " in a way 
which would have done Superintendent "Walker good 
to see. Sticks? I should think so. Bludgeons! 
YvThips ! It rained blows on the heads and shoulders 



128 TEE PROCESSION IN THE STREETS. [chap. 

of King Mob, who lias a very hard time of it. 
How no skull was cracked was a marvel to those 
who opine the Egyptian cranium is not solid. 
But no corpses were left on the ground, and the 
carriages drove off to see the procession. The route 
lay now through narrow lanes and streets in which 
there was scarcely a sign of life. Here and there 
a workman, more industrious or less religious than 
his fellows, sat cross-legged beside a heap of cakes 
or sweetmeats, and a few inhabitants wondering at 
the sight of the passing carriages. After a time, 
however, we came out into the crowded thorough- 
fare, and, with greater difficulty than before, the 
little cortege made its way through the people 
to the house provided for the accommodation ol 
the Prince and Princess. Passing through an 
open porte-cochere, where the Prince and Princess 
were received by gentlemen in waiting, the party 
ascended a steep staircase which led to two large 
rooms furnished with carpets and divans, the open 
windows of which looked on the street. Far as 
the eye could reach, up and down, and on either 
side, it was crowded in the same way as the part 
of the city which I have already tried to describe. 

Pipes and coffee were brought in by the servants, 
and unaccustomed lips made some slight experi- 



v.] THE PILGRIMS. 129 

ment on the massive amber mouthpieces . But a 
hum and bustle in the crowd summoned the party 
to the windows. Eound a turn in the street there 
came in view an irregular multitude, preceded by 
horsemen tapping small saucer-like drums, and by 
men on foot with sticks and balls slung to cords 
like those used by jugglers at home, who cleared the 
way for a very motley, picturesque, and eccentric 
procession of footmen, marching abreast — four, or 
five, or six in front. The turbans worn by each 
section of orthodox sects were of the same colour. 
Banners — green, and white, and yellow, inscribed 
with texts from the Koran — every few yards, were 
borne in pairs, suspended from lofty poles with 
gilt tops. There were many hundreds of these ban- 
ners, which are stored up carefully by the sheiks 
when the ceremony is over. Between the banner- 
bearers came men and boys uttering shrill cries, 
or chanting in unison, with a certain sort of mono- 
tonous sweetness, verses from the Koran. Others 
marched to the sound of flageolets and drums. Occa- 
sionally there appeared some singular, if not revolt- 
ing, object. Now men, stripped to the waist, hold- 
ing, by hilt and point, a curved sword, which they 
pressed against their naked stomachs. The edges 
were blunt. But the point was not always so, since 

K 



130 THE PILGRIMS. [chap. 

an indiscreet sabreur who forgot that fact cut 
his fingers, to his evident discomfiture. Now, men 
holding by the tail writhing serpents, three or four 
feet long, which darted out their forked tongues 
at the bare legs of the shrinking crowd. Anon, it 
was a shirtless man, who leapt about, brandishing 
two unsheathed swords across his neck and belly. 
Now a group of boys slinging balls of metal, like 
cup and ball, or burning incense in braziers. Again 
venerable men on asses and mules, inveterate old 
pilgrims in long-robed dresses, descendants of the 
Prophet, in green turbans. Men with big drums, 
cripples and mendicants who live on piety and 
exceeding uncleanliness of person, men singing 
and beating cymbals, and tambourines. The 
strains of martial music announced the approach 
of the Egyptian troops. They were preceded 
by the officer in command and his staff, well 
mounted, and by a picturesque avant-garde of 
pioneers, with bearskins like those of the Old Gruard, 
white leather aprons, and great axes en regie. 
The first battalion which marched past were tall, 
well-set-up, fine young men, dressed in fez, light 
blue jackets, vests with yellow facings, scarlet 
trousers and gaiters a la Zouave — whose uniform 
the Egyptians say was borrowed from their army. 



v.] EGYPTIAN TROOPS. 131 

They kept time to a man, and, altogether, looked 
as if they could meet any troops that could he 
brought against them on equal terms, if officered 
properly. Breechloaders are not come to them 
yet. 

Three battalions, each headed by its trumpets 
playing the Zouave pas, went by, and after them 
the cavalry, with green and purple-flagged lances, 
swords, and pistols, headed by a band which was 
described by a young gentleman fresh from England 
as " a caution to rattlesnakes." Their horses, full of 
life, were small, active, unshod, ill-cleaned. Their 
dress, a fez, blue jackets and yellow facings, yellow- 
striped blue vest, and red trousers. Next came 
the General of Cairo, with a very showy staff, in 
front of whom rode a few horsemen with breech- 
loading revolving carbines. Another detachment of 
infantry followed. And then the holy camels and 
the man with the revolving head went by, and after 
them, flowed on a crowd with banners and devices 
and dervishes, just like the first. Then the irregular 
cavalry, beating their tom-toms, mounted on all 
sorts of horses, armed with many kinds of weapons, 
having pistols stuck everywhere over them, guns 
of all kinds in their hands and shins? over their 
backs, and pendant from their saddles. A specimen 

k 2 



1 32 THE END. [chap. 

of every firearm made for the last 150 years could 
assuredly have been collected from among their 
armament. Their music was terrible, and the wild 
troopers must have been a thorn in the flesh to 
small boys, as it was their sport to pluck off the 
fezzes and skull caps of the unwary, and fling them 
anions the crowd or under the hoofs of their 
shoeless horses. Next, as the end of all things, a 
field battery of six rifled bronze guns, with two 
mules to each gun, followed by another tumultuous 
crowd and mounted men ; and at last the tail of 
the procession, which if long drawn out was b} r no 
means always linked sweetness, disappeared round 
an angle of the street, which was at once filled by 
the people who had previously lined it. After the 
procession passed, the Prince and Princess returned 
to the Palace ; and later in the day the Princess 
drove out quietly with Mrs. Grey through the 
bazaar, and did a little original shopping. The 
Prince drove to the Viceregal Palace, visited the 
Viceroy, and had pipes and coffee, and thence went 
to the Nile, to inspect the Alexandra dahabeah 
and the flotilla prepared for the Eoyal party. 

In the course of the afternoon, and somewhat 
to the discomfiture of refined courtiers, who do not 
think donkey riding compatible with dignity, some 



DONKEY RIDING. 133 
of the party proceeded in a long train through 
the bazaars in that fashion, to the great delight 
of the donkey boys, who soon learned the rank 
of the distinguished personages who had honoured 
them with their patronage. 




A visit to the Duke of Sutherland's Palace was 
included in the excursion by the Prince and Princess 
and suite, and there again pipes and coffee were for 
the third time presented to them. In the evening 
" La Grande Duchesse " was represented for the first 
time in Cairo, and was exceedingly appreciated by 
the native part of the audience. 

February 5th. — At 12 o'clock the Eoyal party, 
with the Duke of Sutherland and friends, visited 



134 THE NEW PALACE. [chap. 

the New Palace of the Viceroy at Gizeh, on the 
left bank of the Nile. 

The object of building a new palace must be 
best known to him who is master of so many. 
Here, certainly, he has succeeded in obtaining one 
of the most beautiful residences that king or em- 
peror can desire. The palace is not yet finished, 
but has already cost more than £250,000. It is 
not alone sumptuous halls, immense saloons, de- 
corated in the most exquisite manner in imitation 
of the Alhambra, nor gorgeous mirrors, nor chande- 
liers, nor furniture covered with beaten gold that 
renders it so. The floors of the rooms are composed 
of different coloured marbles. The taste and fancy 
of Europe have been lavished on the architecture 
of the Moor. It stands in the midst of gardens, 
set in by a framework of date-palms ; one wanders 
through groves of exotics, and alleys bordered by 
oriental plants, watered continuously by noble foun- 
tains. There is a menagerie of wild beasts close 
at hand, and cranes, and saruses, and flamingoes 
stalk about the avenues. 

Outside there is a kiosk and a harem, correspond- 
ing in richness and finish with the main building. 
The party proceeded through the bazaar, and thence 
went to see performances of the dancing dervishes. 



v.] DANCING DERVISHES. 135 

Here is one of the holy men ! He does not dance, 
but spins round like a humming-top. There are 
some twenty of them, tapering away from the tallest 
who is in the centre, and the whirling of each has an 
orbit, so that every man slowly describes an ellipse. 
There is supposed by the savans to be some astrono- 
mical truth typified in the dance — the motions of the 




sun and planets — but the dervishes did not look at all 
philosophical, and they certainly were not indifferent 
to terrestrial matters in the way of backsheesh. The 
crowd regarded the performance without enthusiasm ; 
but I never saw a bishop of any church who looked 
at all equal to doing the like of it. 

The Princess of Wales and Mrs. Grey, in the 
afternoon, visited the harem of the Viceroy, where 
they were received by the Yalideh, and were pre- 



136 TEE CAIRO GRISI. [chap. 

sented to the ladies of the establishment. The 
Princess was the object of great attention on the part 
of the ladies during the three hours she remained 
there, and returned with many pleasant anecdotes. 

A donkey ride along the Schoubra Road helped 
to get over a portion of the day; and after dinner 
the Royal party went to the theatre, where " La 
Belle Helene " was performed. Menelaus was 
certainly to be congratulated on the departure of 
his faithless spouse, and I am sure Paris bounded 
nimbly out of his bark when the curtain fell. 

There is little else to be done in the evening in 
Cairo. There are no parties or balls ; no receptions 
which ladies can attend. The Viceroy, however, 
being desirous of showing His Royal Highness an 
exhibition of the native dancing and singing, with 
which the upper classes are entertained in their own 
houses, invited him and his suite to the Kasr-el- 
Nil after the play. 

We had the opportunity of hearing the Cairo 
Grisi, a woman of about forty years of age, neither 
fat, nor fair to look upon, who sang at fitful 
intervals, to the accompaniment of six chosen 
musicians. The music put one much in mind of 
that in Upper India. The lady's voice was some- 
what cracked; but there were quaint odd notes, in 



v.] ALMEAES. 137 

which, still lingered traces of the melody which she 
possessed in her youth. Her principal attraction 
now, however, is said to be her wit and liveliness. 
She talked to the Viceroy without the smallest 
gene ; and in a keen encounter of wit between 
her and Sir Samuel Baker in Arabic, it was said 
by proficients that the Englishman had the worst 
of it. There were six women dancers, who per- 
formed singly and in pairs. 

The Egyptian dance has often been described. 
Some varieties of it, executed by these ladies, were 
stated — on what authority I know not — to date 
from the time of the Pharaohs. Others were content 
with putting them down roughly at 2,000 years old ; 
to suit the antiquity of the performances, the ladies, 
with two exceptions, were ancient and mummified. 

The gentlemen were seated on divans round the 
room, and it was considered a mark of attention on 
the part of the Almeah, or Dancing Girl, to select 
some particular person whom she fancied to be 
worthy of her consideration, and to dance specially 
before him. 

It was rather a relief, on the whole, when the 
Viceroy led the way with the Prince down to 
supper, from which we did not return to Cairo 
till half-past 2 in the morning. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO. — THE FLOTILLA. — A FALSE 

ALARM. THE PIRST HALT. THE FIRST NIGHT. — ■ 

B-ENISOUEFF. FESHN. — SHEIK FODL. — THE CHURCH 

IN EGYPT. MINIEH. 

February 6tli. — The entertainment given by the 
Viceroy last night led to rather a late breakfast ; but 
the Eoyal party were ready to start at an earlier 
hour than we expected. At 12 o'clock the Prince 
of Wales and his suite drove to the Citadel to visit 
the Viceroy's son, where they had pipes and coffee. 

It is the etiquette of the East, that one who is 
visited by a great personage, should immediately 
return the compliment ; and no sooner had the 
Prince got back to his palace, than the Pasha 
made his appearance with his suite, and paid his 
parting compliments to His Eoyal Highness ; for 
this was the day of the departure of the two 
parties from Cairo. 



chap, tl] DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO. 139 

There were beys, and aides, and cavasses flying 
about in all directions ; and a gathering of many 
officials round the doors of the Prince's palace. 
There is always a little bustle attendant on the 
starting of a large party ; and our small palace was 
pretty lively from 10 till 1 o'clock, when all the 
boxes, portmanteaus, bags, and gun-cases were safely 
loaded on trucks and sent down to Ka-sr - el - Nil, 
where the steamers were moored. The Duke of 
Sutherland and party went to the railway station to 
meet Lord Albert Grower and Sir H. Pelly, who were 
coming from Alexandria, quite unconscious of their 
fate. They were touring about and had telegraphed 
to announce their arrival at Alexandria ; and it was 
resolved that they should be taken up the Nile, the 
very moment they arrived. It is seldom a man is 
called on to execute such a sudden journey in con- 
tinuation of a route which was intended to end for 
the time at a railway terminus. 

Soon after 1.30 o'clock the Prince and the Princess, 
in plain travelling clothes, suited to the climate, started 
in an open carriage, the suite following in others, and 
drove at a rapid rate to Kasr-el-Nil. There were 
very few of the natives who appeared to know or 
to care for their departure. Not even a scurry of 
Egyptian outriders, or gentlemen in waiting in 



140 DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO. [chap. 

their peculiar costume — black jacket, embroidered 
vest, with sash, black knickerbockers, black em- 
broidered leggings— and a guard of cavasses riding 
at full speed, and warning all to get out of the 
way, created much excitement among the people ; 
and when the cortege got out on the mound-marked 
road, leading through fields of sugar-cane and tares, to 




the bank of the river, the peasants, working at their 
leisure, in the fields, and the fellah men and women, 
scarcely raised their heads to give a speculating 
glance at the cloud of dust which whirled along the 
causeway. At the entrance to the castle-yard, the 
guard turned out in their white summer fatigue- 
jackets, knickerbockers, and gaiters, and saluted. 



yl] THE FLOTILLA. ]41 

The Palace itself was all silent ; the jalousies closed 
as if the Viceroy did not like to see his guests' 
departure; and there were not fifty people in all, 
including the stray soldiery in the court at the 
Nile wall, to see the start of the flotilla. The Duke 
of Sutherland and his party were already on board 
The Ornament of Two Seas. 

The Prince and Princess and Mrs. Grey occupied 
the Alexandra dahabeah, which was towed by the 
Eoyal steamer. There was also a kitchen steamer 
attached to it. 

Lieut. -Col. Teesdale, Captain Ellis, Mr. Montagu, 
Dr. Minter, Lord Carington, Sir Samuel Baker, 
Prince Louis of Battenberg, and Mr. Brierly were 
accommodated on board the steamer, in which the 
Eoyal party daily assembled for breakfast and 
dinner. 

Another steamer was provided for Mourad Pasha 
and Colonel Stanton, on board of which Major 
Alison, who belonged to the Duke of Sutherland's 
party, was provided with a berth. Mr. Fowler 
and Professor Owen, who had been invited by the 
Duke to accompany him, finding that the room on 
board the fourth steamer was rather limited, were 
wont to take refuge in the evening on board Colonel 
Stanton's boat. 



142 THE START. [chap. 

A lighter, containing stores, was towed by the 
kitchen steamer; another lighter, with four horses, 
and a riding-donkey for the Princess, was towed by 
the steamer assigned to Colonel Stanton. 

His Eoyal Highness has got Mr. Baker, a clever 
naturalist and taxidermist, on board. His punt 
is well adapted for the sport to be had on the river, 
and is in charge of Webster, who was with Lord 
Londesborough on the Nile some years ago, when 
he made up his famous tale of 10,000 head of birds 
in one season. 

Talk of the doings of djins and afreets ! "What 
did they know of champagne and soda-water and 
French pates ? One of them could not have got a 
bottle of brandy to save his life — the genii who lived 
in the vessel in the sea surely could not have obtained 
his freedom had it depended on producing a flask of 
Curacao. Well, on board the store boat, for fear of 
one going athirst on the voyage, there was, it is said, 
a supply of 3,000 bottles of champagne, 20,000 bottles 
of soda-water, 4,000 bottles of claret ; and so on as 
to sherry, and ale, and liqueurs of all sorts. 

About 2 o'clock the start was effected, and a very 
pretty sight it was. First the Prince's steamer moved 
off, with the Eoyal Standard and Ottoman flag fly- 
ing ; next the Alexandra dahabeah, or sleeping-boat ; 



vi,] THE NILE NEAR CAIRO. 143 

then, the steamer on board of which, were Colonel 
Stanton, Professor Owen, Mr. Fowler, and Major 
Alison ; next the cooking steamer ; then the Duke of 
Sutherland's steamer, and a boat serving as a tender 
to the little flotilla, each in turn towing a barge 
full of provisions. There was a good deal of shout- 
ing ; but on the whole not much to complain of. 
I am not going to try my hand at a Nile picture. 
Mr. Murray, by the aid of Sir Gardner Wilkinson, 
has indicated every object of interest on the banks 
of the river after leaving Boulak. The photographer 
and the colourist (if a painter submits to be so 
called) must do the rest ; for it is but a useless repe- 
tition of words, conveying no just impression to the 
mind of the reader, to write of mosques and palaces 
and ruins on the banks ; of waving date-palms ; of 
water-wheels at work ; of green fields ; of fellah 
women, with covered heads and bodies and bare legs, 
by the river side ; of men, only to be distinguished 
from women by their turbaned heads ; of minarets 
in the distance • of lateen-rigged boats, with stumpy 
masts and enormous yards ; of Arab crews and 
cargoes — mounds of chopped straw piled on deck, 
heaps of water-jars, coops of noisy fowl, gobbling 
turkey-cocks ; one might go on enumerating such 
things for ever, as we paddle up the great water-way 



144 THE QUARRIES. [chap. 

which is the artery of life and commerce for five 
millions of people clustered along its course. 

The last sight of interest was the great mosque 
of Sultan Hassan, in Cairo — far away — which came 
in view at a bend of the river, and shone out gdori- 
ouslv iii the rays of the setting sun, giving fair reason 
to question the judgment of the critics who have 
complained of the slenderness of the two graceful 
minarets, which, to our eyes, were exquisite in pro- 
portion and effect. 

The worst of a steamboat, in one respect, is, 
that it always enables one to go on, — and on he 
goes accordingly ; whereas, in the sailing vessel, 
odious as delays may be, there is much involuntary 
sight-seeing to be done when the wind is foul. Xo 
doubt we passed many interesting places — the 
quarries, for example, whence, for thousands of 
years, magnesian limestone has been cut for monu- 
ments, palaces, and cities, and where a man may 
wander in the galleries hewn into the mountain for 
a day without coming to an end of them. The 
[Nile is so low that the various layers of successive 
years' inundations may be traced, like strata in 
rocks. 

" The proper study of mankind is man,'' parti- 
cularly if you have good lorgnettes and telescopes. 



vi.] THE TOURISTS. 145 

I would be ashamed to say how much more we were 
interested in watching the progress of the Boyal 
yacht, and in observing those on board of her, than 
in scrutinizing the sites of famous places on both 
sides of the river above Cairo. <c There is the 
Princess ! You can just see her in the saloon on 
deck ! " The mounds of old Babylon, and the 
mosque built over the " Footprint of the Prophet," 
were on one side \ on our right towered the Pyramids 
of Gizeh, and as the steamers cleft their way 
against the turbid stream, there rose in sight the 
Pyramids of Abooseer, Sakkara, and Dashoor : but 
they could be seen at any time, whilst it was not so 
certain when we could get a glimpse of the Prince 
on the Nile, in the abandon of shooting-jacket, 
knickerbockers, and felt hat. If, such were the feel- 
ings of the party, what might not be pardoned to 
Mr. Cook's Tourists, who were in full cry up the 
river after the Prince and Princess ? Some of our 
companions had come from Brindisi with the British 
caravan, and gave accounts which did not tend to 
make us desire a closer acquaintance. Bespectable 
people — worthy — intelligent — whatever you please ; 
but all thrown off their balances by the prospect of 
running the Prince and Princess of Wales to earth in 
a Pyramid, of driving them to bay in the Desert, of 



146 RUINS AND SIGHTS. [chap. 

hunting them into the recesses of a ruin — enraptured 
at the idea of being able possibly to deliver " an 
address " in the temple of Karnak, or of gazing at 
their ease on the Eoyal couple, enclosed in their 
toils on the Island of Philse. The quarries of El 
Mahsarah and Toora, worked twenty centuries and 
more before the Christian era, which furnished the 
materials of the Gizeh pyramids, and the Temples 
of Thebes and Memphis, were on our left hand, and 
we were obliged to take, on hearsay, that there were, 
in the galleries of these mothers of many cities, 
marks, as legible as if they were cut yesterday, of 
the kings who ordered the works. Far away over 
the opposite bank, you can note the mounds of rub- 
bish which are all that remain of what was once 
"imperial Memphis." "I can see the Prince! he 
is just forward there, speaking to Baker!" There 
is certainly some subtle sort of pleasure in looking 
at Royalty through a powerful glass. You are a 
long way off, and you cannot be considered intru- 
sive. And so you stare — I beg your pardon, sir, or 
madam, if I wrong you ! — very much with the sort 
of satisfaction a stalker experiences, at a calm, con- 
templative, all-over look from the top of some heathery 
knoll at an Imperial or Eoyal head, unconscious of 
the inspection. "We pass the sulphur springs of 



vi.] A FALSE ALARM. 147 

Helwan, where it is conjectured Amenophis sent 
lepers and other incurables to live apart from the 
rest of Egypt. Manetho says he did the thing, 
but does not mention the name of the place — that 
is, Sir Gardner Wilkinson declares Manetho makes 
the statement. I confess I have not consulted 
the passage in which the extract from Manetho is 
recorded, and that I am as unlearned respecting 
Manetho as was the worthy gentleman in the " Yicar 
of Wakefield," who quoted him and Sanconiathon. 
But recent researches have enhanced the value of the 
ancient priest's chronicles, and Egyptologists bless the 
fortunate chance which, in the writings of another, 
saved his lists from destruction. Just now, as mound 
after mound denote the graves in which whole cities 
lie buried — Aphroditopolis, the city of Acanthus, the 
temple of Osiris — there is an alarm " The tourists 
are coming ! " 

A cloud of smoke rises from a steamer astern, 
but after a time it is made out that she is a local 
merchant craft -bound to one of the sugar factories, 
and peace of mind is restored. The signal for 
dinner flies along the line, and AH Eisa, who pre- 
sides, is proudly conscious that there is no difference 
made in the menu by the change of scene, and 
that our Spanish cook and Italian domestics, trans- 
it 2 



148 OUR CBEW AND COMPANY. [chap. 

ferred from tlie palace, are resolved to make Tlie 
Ornament of the Two Seas a rival of tlie dwelling 
on tlie Schonbra Road. 

Our steamer does not present much to talk about. 
There is the usual grave, keen-eyed, dark-faced old 
Arab reis, in white turban and flowing robes, at the 
wheel — a handsome old fellow, who is relieved by 
another — his very ditto, only a shade graver, and 
better - looking ; our captain, a blue-eyed, rather 
feeble-faced Turk, who is afraid "to go ahead," and 
has not quite recovered the effect of the Ramadan ; 
the crew of marines, in greyish coats, blue trousers, 
and fez, all the worse for wear, taking measure of 
the new-comers ; in the bow, the butchers arraying 
the fore-rigging with carcases of poultry and sheep ; 
astern, our excellent Italian servants, our old staff 
at the Palace, cheerfully chatting as they prepare 
for il pranso. Some of our good sailors, taking in 
turn a flat cushion on the quarter-deck, say their 
prayers, and shame us all by their open-air courage 
of devotion. The evening became cold by the 
time w r e had got twenty miles up the river, and 
our steamer, faster and lighter than the Prince's 
boat, which was, moreover, towing the dahabeah, 
went on ahead, and lost sight of the flotilla in 
a bend of the river. The Prince ran aground soon 



yi.] THE FIRST HALT. 149 

after we left him, and others did the same, so 
that they made very slow work of it. At dusk, 
we sidled up to the bank of the river on the 
right, near a village called Kafr (or "village") 
Iabt, or Ayabt. The Prince's boat, and attendant 
steamers, came up and clawed the bank alongside 
later in the evening. It is easy work to moor 
a vessel, as a stake driven into the soft rich 
earth is sufficient to hold the warp of a large 
ship. A plank is thrown out to the steep bank, 
and steps are cut up to the top by the sailors. 
At each plank sits or stands a swarthy Egyptian, 
holding a pole, atop of which is an iron frame-work 
holding a mass of blazing pine and coals, which 
throws a bright light on the landing-place, and 
lights up the hulls and white funnels of the 
vessels and the dusky waters. The line of these 
beacons, and the lanterns slung from the mizen- 
rigging, formed an effective illumination, but did 
not attract the natives out of the mud-heaps 
called villages. After dinner, the party were invited 
to go on board the Prince's boat, and scrambled 
along the bank to the gangway. If there were any 
wandering fellahs about, they must have heard the 
tinkle of the piano, touched by a fair and practised 
hand, and the refrain of songs, and clamour of 



150 THE BAGPIPES. chap. 

choruses, not unfamiliar in England. What the 
theories of the hypothetical auditors may have been 
respecting the strains, who can determine? 

But I can assure you, when deep called unto deep 
— when Alister, beating the deck proudly with his 
foot, made the date groves resonant with " the 
sweetest notes ear ever heard " (on the pipes, be 
it understood), and summoned Peter Eobertson to 
generous, but not successful, emulation, on bag and 
slender reed — when " Farewell to Lochaber " was 
borne on the evening air from The Ornament of 
the Two Seas to be re-echoed from the Prince's 
ship by eldrich slogan — they must have been stout 
aborigines who stood unmoved, and the feelings of 
the guardians of our watch-fires on the bank must 
have been too deep for words. It is no fault of Peter 
Eobertson that he cannot play the pipes as well 
as Alister, who has a gift that way, and who was 
born past master in the fearful and mystic art; for 
he can touch heart and feet, and set both beating 
together. But Peter is great in the forest and on 
the " hull," and it is not given to all to excel on the 
bagpipes and in the chase. By persevering efforts, 
which the fellahs and I would prefer to have deve- 
loped at first in some lonely glen, rather than in our 
immediate vicinity, he may dominate the tender and 



vi.] THE FIRST NIGHT. 151 

pathetical power of the instrument, from which now 
rush martial sounds and war's alarms, as though 
iEolus had loosed his windy caverns in anger. 
Hamed, Hadji Ali, Achmet Captan, Ali Cap tan, the 
Reis — in the plural ; I cannot say Eeises — and the 
crews, agreed that it was capital music altogether, 
and that they had never heard the like of it 
before. 

We shook down pretty comfortably at night. 
There is a cabin astern, with a long sofa on 
both sides, which gave resting-place to the Duke 
and Colonel Marshall. Two small cabins, between 
it and the dining saloon, were occupied by the 
Marquis of Stafford and myself. The cushions 
round the dining saloon afforded sumptuous beds 
for Lord Albert Gower and Sir Henry Pelly, and 
at the end of the companion ladder outside Mr. 
Sumner held high state in the largest cabin, which 
was only unfortunate in its vicinity to the boilers 
and to the bath-room — an apartment with a zinc 
hip bath, which, filled with Nile water, was in 
much request, and the object of considerable in- 
trigue, foul play, and manoeuvring before breakfast. 

Sunday, February 7 th. — The morning was dull 
and the sun overcast — the -wind cold for the country 
and the time of year. The fleet got under weigh 



152 NILE SCENERY. [chap. 

soon after daybreak, and pressed on against the 
current of the Nile, now hugging' one shore — 
again creeping to the other — now keeping the 
middle, as the skippers were warned by the cries 
of the watchmen on the banks, or by the advice of 
the native boats. The channel is for ever shift- 
ing. To provide as far as possible against our 
running aground, the Viceroy sent up instructions 
six weeks ago to have the course of the river 
closely observed ; and ever since, day and night, 
the people have been watching and waiting for 
us. Groups of horsemen, here — men in boats, there 
— voices sounding from bank to bank, exchange 
the words of council with our captain and the Arab 
reis at every turn. 

The character of the scenery has a certain mo- 
notony, of which we do not tire. There are the 
Pyramids of Lisht; there is the False Pyramid. 
There a mass of rock as like a Pyramid as if 
Nature were trying to emulate the grand freaks 
of these great builders. There are groups of 
women, by the water's edge, with their heads 
covered, in dark blue robes, and legs naked to 
the knee, filling the huge jars, which they bear 
gracefully on their heads, or crouching down to 
plash their limbs — along the banks men riding 



vi.] TEE WARNING VOICES. 153 

— villages — date trees — gliding sails — the railway 
and the telegraph posts. 




The river is covered with boats, the crews of each 
a study for a painter ; then- cargoes a w T onder ; their 
ability to float at all — not to mention their speed — 



154 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. [chap. 

something to be surprised at, for they need a luteing 
of mud and chopped straw round the hatchway to 
keep out the water. After a run of three hours, 
the Prince's steamer stopped — at first voluntarily — 
to get breakfast from the kitchen boat, and next 
involuntarily on a sand-bank. Our boat went on 
ahead. We passed an ancient Coptic convent — 
Dehra Mahmed ; a deserted Christian village ; the 
lone tomb of a holy man, solitary on the sand, 
guarded by a few palm trees ; another tomb of a 
sainted lady, whose memory is held in veneration 
by devout Mahometans, who come in pilgrimage 
to the shrine — another of her daughter, who is 
also of blessed memory. Small dust storms 
whirl round and round on shore. The steamer 
shoots by El Mazabyeah-o-Bitashar, observed of 
many detached gatherings of men apart and 
women apart on the banks. "We look for croco- 
diles with the eye of credulity, but Hamed says 
there are none to be seen now much below Assouan, 
and that as long as the wind is cold they stay in 
the river, and do not visit the banks. The hippo- 
potamus is not met with below Berbeh, which is 
north of Khartoum. Hamed says a thousand years 
ago it was found as low — as far north — as we are 
now ; I believe Hamed in any matter relating to 



vi.] BENISOUEFF. 155 

hippopotami, even to the extent of a thousand years. 
The district hereabouts has a sad story of its own. A 
short time ago a man rose up and gathered the 
fellahs to his standard, which was that of a new 
religion. His following increased rapidly, and he 
refused to disband at the summons of the Viceroy's 
officers. A body of regular troops was sent against 
them, and not far from Benisoueff the advance 
guard, with six guns, came on the rebel or fanatic 
leader. Ignorant of the nature of cannon, he at 
once led his band to the attack. The guns opened 
on them with grape, and mowed down lanes in the 
multitude. Among the slain, killed by the first dis- 
charge, lay the leader of the men, whom he had 
comforted with the assurance that he was invulner- 
able. So far Ali Bey told us ; but he did not add 
what Lady Duff Gordon asserts, that there was a 
wholesale desolating war of extermination— if war 
it could be called — carried on against the wretches 
who fled, and that thousands were hunted down 
and put to death. 

"We went so slowly that the fear grew on us lest 
Cook's tourists should overhaul the flotilla. But at 
3 o'clock we arrived off Benisoueff, a large town 
with a population varying from 45,000 (according 
to a cavass translated by Hamed) to 15,000, 



156 HAMED. [chap. 

according to another native authority, and to 
5,000, according to Ali Bey and Colonel Stanton. 
There was a line of troops on the bank to act 
as a guard of honour. A great number of 
sheiks in white turbans were in attendance, and 
a crowd of 400 or 500 people, men and boys, 
turned out to sit on the bank, which was as 
good a place to sit on as anywhere else. There 
was a Palace of the Viceroy at our disposal, if 
needed. Where has the Viceroy not got a Palace ? 
And where is there not a Palace of the Viceroy ? 
There was a pleasant Governor or Deputy-Governor 
in waiting, and a great heap of cavasses with 
scimitars and belts full of pistols. Hamed — ex- 
cellent Hippopotamus Johnny, ever willing, always 
showing his white teeth in a smile when he 
is asked a question or desired to make himself 
useful — led a detachment up the plank on shore, 
and took his way along the bank of the river 
towards the town. He was joined by a cavass, 
who was a thing of terror to the small boys and 
other backsheesh hunters. Capital fellow, indeed, 
is Hamed, but a bad fellow to go astern of in fine 
sand with the wind strong ahead. His red shoes 
are lovely to look at, but they are spiked at the top 
as if meant to shovel up the dust; and, if that be 



vi.] THE NATIVES. 157 

the object, the designer must be congratulated on 
rare success. The dust was blinding. Our way 
lay through a ragged parade-ground extending 
from the Pasha's house near the landing - place 
to the mud- walled enclosure around the garden 
of the Governor, inside which were visible the 
jalousied windows of a neat residence. The town 
looked like a village surrounded by a wall. We 
entered the main street, which was about twelve feet 
wide, and wound right and left through lines of 




buildings, two storeys in height, of which the outer 
wall facing the street was often only a brown bank 
of mud, pierced by an opening for the closed portals. 
On and on, meeting no one save frightened children 
or timid women, who bolted into doorways like 
rabbits in a warren at the approach of the fowler. 
Such a chattering of voices as they made when 



158 THE BAZAAR. [chap. 

safe inside ! From the suburb we turned into 
the Bazaar. I strongly advise any one who may 
read these notes not to halt at Benisoueff with- 
out doing the same. The street rambles at will, 
bordered by shops, to which the arts of the 
Frank are unknown. It is covered in at the 
top, and the rays of light fall through the chinks 
of the matting and boards in pillar-like shafts, 
producing wonderful effects of light and shade. 
The sellers were more interesting than their wares, 
not but what there were strange things in con- 
fectionery and utensils and clothing of various 
kinds, to be seen mixed up with Austrian cut- 
lery and Manchester cottons. The owners scarcely 
moved their eyes as the strangers passed. Young 
and old, all apathetic, indifferent to commercial 
enterprise, thinking it ungentlemanly, perchance, to 
solicit custom. There were no crowds such as may 
be seen at Cairo or Stamboul, but each shop had 
a wee clientelle of its own, who, if they bought 
nothing, kept the keeper in conversation. There 
were barbers in active employ; scribes writing letters 
which have to undergo the various vicissitudes 
to which the " Poste Eegie Egiziane " will expose 
them ; tin-plate workers, where Egyptians of six 
or seven years of age were assiduously tinkering 



vi.] A SCHOOL. 159 

and soldering pots and pans ; butchers, fly infested ; 
kibob makers, whose shops sent forth the odour 
of savoury meats ; khans and cafes, and the omni- 
present tobacco merchant, the various traders keep- 
ing well together, as if to promote wholesome com- 
petition, or distract the intending buyer. In and 
out, right and left, the street wound in its shady 
course, the cavass shoving or thumping a way for us 
through the crowd till once more we threaded a lane, 
silent save when a dog uttered its yelp of alarm, 
or the bully turkey-cock, sunning himself on a flat 
roof, gobbled defiance to the noisy intruding infidels. 
Now we passed a sombre mosque, and could see 
the scattered worshippers, and hear the hum of 
their low prayer. Stopping to investigate the cause 
of a tremendous Babel, we discovered a school 
of little ones packed as close as could be in a 
dark cave-like room, who were following the master 
in chorus as he read out a lesson from a large 
slate. The master, a young man of twenty or 
twenty-five years of age, seated on his hams, once 
turned to look at us, and then, as though to set 
his flock a good example, like him in the " Ancient 
Mariner," "turned no more his head." Beside him, 
in the place of honour, was a swell scholar, a big- 
wig's son, splendid in embroidered jacket ; but the 



160 VOLUNTARY SLAVERY. [chap. 

most of the forty or fifty boys and girls belonged, 
one might guess, to the lower stratum of the 
middle classes, — bright-eyed, white-teethed, they 
stared at us with all their might, and gave glances 
of great meaning to where the cavass, sword and all, 
darkened the entrance, whilst they kept shouting 
out their lessons. And there were bad boys among 
them, I am sorry to say — Egyptian Jack Homers 
who had no pie to eat, but sat right doleful in 
corners, with faces turned to the wall, gazing at 
large sums set forth on cruel slates. An infant 
truant who toddled in with a make-believe face 
that "it was all right," was pounced on by a boy- 
usher, armed with a rod, and at once provided with 
a calculation which it would puzzle the eminent 
Bidder to solve. 

Having exhausted the sights of Benisoueff we 
returned to the steamer, which was making up 
supplies of coal. Strings of children were carrying 
loads in baskets on their heads, whilst the men 
looked on, or now and then quickened them up 
with a stick. A gang of girls arrived with cakes 
for the crew, but they were not allowed or would 
not come on board. At the shore end of the 
gangway they put down their baskets, and the 
master of the flock and some boys carried the 



VI.] INFANT SLAVERY. 161 

cakes to the steamer. There was a striking proof 
of the force of example. An infant Egyptian, 
quite naked, was condemning himself to voluntary 
slavery on the bank under our eyes. He could 
not have been more than three years old, but he 
was assiduously piling lumps of coal on a cab- 
bage-leaf on the top of his head, and resolutely 
picking them up when they fell from his little pate, 
as though he meant to earn his pay, and not shirk 
his self-appointed task. It was a glorious sunset. 
The wind fell, and with it the dusk, but the sun 
dipped into a warm bath of crimson, and threw 
up splashes of orange and gold into the sky ere he 
sank. It was dark before the Prince came up and 
moored close to us. The Consul's dragoman caught, 
on a night-line, a huge siluroid, which Professor 
Owen carried off to the Prince with the hook in 
its mouth. There was the usual stroll on the 
bank before dinner, and in the evening most of the 
party on board the Duke's steamer were invited 
to join the Eoyal circle. 

February Sth. — Cold night, windy morning, clouds 
of dust, all windows and ports closed. There was 
less trouble concerning the tubbing arrangements, 
as a screen has been fitted up on deck which 
permits the natives on shore to view* the eccentric 

M 



162 THE WEATHER. [chap. 

proceedings of the stranger, but bides him from the 
crew. Grievous things have occurred. The net 
which was intended to ensnare the solitary crocodile 
turned out yesterday to be adapted rather for the 
capture of the multitudinous herring. It is too 
much to expect that the crocodile will prove obliging, 
and, out of pure civility, believe he is a herring. 
Then, again, the night-line, from which a good 
deal was expected, came to nought. The hook 
was baited with the entrails of a fowl, which 
proved very tempting to some monster of the deep. 
But he was strong and tyrannous : in a contest of 
"pull monster, pull dragoman," the line broke, 
and we saw not the conqueror. 

BenisouefT was probably wide awake when the 
flotilla cast off from the banks at dawn, but the 
world on board, save Beis, captain, and crew, was 
fast asleep. The Duke's steamer led. Tor the first 
time in ten years, it is said, a shower of rain fell 
this morning ; and why it fell it is hard to 
conceive, inasmuch as a wind strong enough to 
blow it into mist rushed down the stream, and 
raised clouds of sand along the shore, which 
rendered it impossible to see the banks at times. 
A learned man prognosticated a fine day from 
the sunset last night. Alas, how wrong he was ! 



VI.] WIND AND DUST. 163 

When the pattering* of the rain ceased, the dust 
rose. No effort could keep that fine torment from 
going where it listed, and it liked to settle in 
the cabins, and on beards, and up nostrils, and in 
eyes. Of course this is an exceptional day ; but 
we are in for abnormal weather it seems. 

The wind, cold enough as long as the boats were 
under the bank, was exceedingly fierce when we 
got out into the stream. Hour by hour it waxed in 
power, cresting the dun-coloured waves with white 
foam, till the sun was shrouded in clouds. These 
grew denser, and produced the effect of a fog. The 
palm-trees, moved into life by the blast, with stems 
hidden by the lower and heavier strata of the volatile 
sand-banks, threw their feathery leaves like " knightly 
plumes " in their play. A yellowish screen shut out 
the Nile, yielding occasionally, so as to show 
through the rifts the low-lying shores — here covered 
with sugar-cane in patches, there bare and desert- 
like — lined with high banks, or barred by mounds 
of limestone. 

Pumping-machines for irrigation, and tall chim- 
neys, denoted the existence of the rich sugar districts 
which we heard of but could not see. 

The fellah men and women, with garments 
streaming in the blast seemed as much annoyed 

m 2 



164 FESHN. [chap. 

by the unusual storm as we were. A valetudinarian 
sent from England by a doctor, and encountering 
such an afternoon, would, if he were an irritable 
and unjust-minded person, not disposed to be 
charitable in respect to climatic irregularities, wish 
that his medical adviser were out in his place. 
We thought of the Suez Canal when we saw the 
dun and yellow clouds, which seemed able to fill 
up whole seas. 

As the Prince's boat was not visible when we got 
as far as Feshn, a village with two mosques, our boat 
was put in to shore and secured. Sumner took his 
gun, carried off " Hippopotamus Johnny," and, accom- 
panied by Colonel Marshall and myself, walked across 
the fields towards a small village shrouded in palm- 
trees, and distinguished by a mosque and minaret, 
and a tomb-like structure ; but there was nothing to 
be met with except natives, domestic pigeons, hawks, 
and larks. A pigeon fell first, but as if in revenge at 
his undeserved and illegitimate fate, dropped into a 
patch of long grass, in which two amateur beaters 
sought in vain to discover it ; a buzzard was also 
unlucky, and finally some sort of wild beast — fox, 
jackal, or wolf — les trois se disent — was rolled over, 
but got up again and escaped in the growing crops. 
Outside the village is a railway station, and at it were 



vl] SHEIK FODL. 165 

waiting one turkey-cock, two hens, ten dogs, and two 
natives. As the Koyal flotilla was coming np, the 
party abandoned any attempt to improve their minds 
by investigating the village, and got on board. Then 
we all set off together, and, for ever pelted by wind 
and sand, got into a wider Nile which opened out 
at times like a lake. 

Arrived at Aboo Grirgeh at 4 p.m., passing Shekh 
Embarak, a lofty mountain riclge which comes close 
down to the water's edge. The Eoyal steamer did 
not come up for nearly an hour later. The Prince 
went off in the punt with Webster, and made a 
good shot, getting seven spoonbills and two black 
storks i then netted the river, and had two hauls, 
one a blank, the other bringing in some small fish, 
which were cooked for dinner. There were plenty 
of wild geese, but' they were very much alive to 
danger, and kept circling high in air, uttering a 
prolonged trumpet-like cry to warn their brethren. 

Towards sundown the steamers sidled in to the 
left bank at Sheik Fodl, 122 miles from Cairo, to 
make fast for the night. 

It would be slow work if all the places men- 
tioned by Murray were to be inspected, for the 
Nile becomes a water way, with landing-places for 
the antiquary at every mile. The limestone ridges 



166 MUMMY DOGS. [chap. 

wliicli liedge the Desert here sweep down close to 
the right bank, and tower above the traveller. 

February 9th. — The thermometer 58°. Soon after 
our departure from the mooring stakes at Sheik 
Fodl, what should come on but a dense fog ! It is 
very seldom indeed such an unpleasant hindrance to 
navigation occurs on the Nile ; but it so happened 
that as we had wind and rain yesterday, there 
was a fog this morning • not one of your dense 
choking yellow mediums, in which the lungs con- 
tend with an enemy of potency, but a soft white 
milky cloud, more like a rainless Scotch mist (if 
such a thing there can be) than anything else. So 
there was a great sounding of steam whistles, and 
the steamers lay to on the river, just giving a turn 
now and then to keep their bows to the stream. 

We saw nothing of the ruins, of which Sheik 
Fodl boasted two, till modern science improved them 
away into materials for the sugar manufactory at 
Minieh. Nor did we visit the pits in which the 
fathers of village dogs, in all the comfort of embalm- 
ment, are buried with the mummies of their owners 
or well-wishers, each of whom, like the untutored 
Indian, seemed to think that, — 



Admitted to the equal sky, 
His faithful dog should bear him company. 



tl] COPTIC CLERGYMEN. 167 

Nor did we see " Mary's Well " (Bir Sitti 
Mariam), a cave in a rock, wherein the Mle water 
rises during the flood, near which the Copts still 
bnry their dead. In an hour, as soon as the fog 
cleared off, the steamers headed up stream as hard 
as they could, passing the limestone quarries of 
Sheik Hassan, and its remains, Golosaneh, and the 
quarries of E' Serareeh, in which Sir Gardner Wil- 
kinson states two painted grottoes existed, belonging 
to the early reign of Pthahmen, son of Eameses 
the Great. One was destroyed by the Turks ; the 
other still remains, thanks to Sir Gardner's exer- 
tions with the Viceroy. 

We were coming up to the famous Gebel-e-Tayr 
— very like Gibraltar that name — the mountain, or 
rather lofty ridge, where the birds of Egypt meet 
annually in Parliament assembled, and select a 
victim who is to stay od the rock for a year. 
He may not be a victim, indeed — he may be an 
honoured bird : whether he is called on to " sing: " 
all the time I cannot say, but, any way, the bird 
being placed en faction, is deserted by the whole 
Parliament, which flies off to Greece, whence it 
returns in a year to liberate the sentinel, and to 
choose another to take his place. From an odd 
fortress-looking building, with low cupolas and 



168 COPTIC CONVENT. [chap. 

mud buttresses, placed on the plateau of this 
ridge, divers natives were rushing violently down 
the steep, and diving headlong into the stream ; 
they swam out towards the flotilla, dropping down 
on them in the current reckless of paddle-wheels, 
with black heads bobbing up and down in the 
water like fishermen's buoys. 

" Look at those naked black fellows ! Look at 
them jumping into the river ! Pirates ? Oh, Eeis ! 
Bobbers, or madmen ? What do they want ? " 
There is a scarce concealed smile of contempt on the 
Mahometan's face. "No, only Christians, effendi ! " 

And soon they are alongside, clutching at the 
rudder, and striving to grasp the sides of the 
dahabeahs, whilst they shout out, sputtering, " Bak- 
sheesh, Hawadjee ! Ana Christianne ya Hawad- 
jee !" These are the brethren of the Coptic convent, 
Sitteh Mariam el Adrah (Our Lady Mary the Virgin), 
which is also called Dehra el Bukkar, or " Convent 
of the Pulley," from the means employed to raise 
food, and to gather in the holy fathers. They 
got nothing but a good swim for their pains. I 
think that they would give a mile in two to any 
Christian brotherhood in the world, and beat them 
in a fair swimming-match ; but our native friends 
did not think much of them, or of Copts in 



vi.] THE CHURCH IN EGYPT. 169 

general, and spoke of these as intolerant Christians 
speak of Jews in more civilized lands. The old 
Church of Africa seems dead in faith and in works. 
It has added another instance to the many which 
refute the dogma that persecution is a fostering 
power to the truth. 

From what I hear, there seems but little likeli- 
hood that the ancient light will be reillumined for 
many a year to come in this once Christian land. 
It is the land in which, thousands of years ago, 
the Lord worked miracles, and the hearts of the 
people are hardened now, as was that of Pharaoh. 
To all preachings and warnings they have been 
obdurate. Saints have taught and suffered, and 
fathers of the Church have evangelized, and there 
is the Egyptian now, whatever may be said of 
his future, as devout an infidel as when he was 
the follower of strange gods, against whom Moses 
lifted up his voice and his rod. The march of 
civilization passes over his body, and leaves its 
impress on the outer man. Eulers, enlightened and 
energetic, drive their car over the quivering mass. 
All in vain. There does not exist the influence 
which led nations to change their faith at the 
bidding of a king. The Egyptians are not to be 
converted, as the Britons were, by the example of a 



170 SPORT ON THE RIVER. [chap. 

ruler, who, indeed, would be rash if he tried to 
Christianize himself. 

The Copts are now reckoned at no more than 
100,000 souls. Many have gone over to the Church 
of Borne, and so rapid were the conversions that 
the Government took measures to check the in- 
fluences to which they were said to be due. So, 
in Egypt at least, human power can mar the 
agencies which are said to be too powerful for 
State interference in countries nearer hora^ inas- 
much as the conversions were very rapidly put a 
stop to. It is certain that in some quarters here, 
Roman Catholicism is looked on as a peculiar 
French power, and is dreaded, or rather discour- 
aged, on that account. 

At Meghara the flotilla lay to, in order that 
the Prince might get a shot at the numerous 
flocks of birds on the banks. They are very 
wary at this time of year, but the Prince is 
patient and never loses a chance. On this occasion 
he managed to get twenty-eight flamingoes at one 
shot. 

The river here becomes tortuous, with lofty lime- 
stone rocks on the right bank, cut into fantastic 
shapes ; on the left, sand-banks and rich alluvial 
fields, lined with date palms. It is a peculiarity 



vi.] MINIEH. 171 

of our navigation that no one can tell where we 
will pnll up at night. Certainly the inquiring 
stranger will get no assistance from the native 
sailors, Beis, or captain. If you ask, "When 
shall we arrive ? " — the answer is, " God grant 
you facilities." Ask "How far it is" — the 
answer is, "As God pleases." "Do you think 
we shall reach Nileville to-night?" — "It depends 
on God." Ali Bey was so contraried by the 
difficulty of getting at time or distances in his 
journeyings up the river, that he constructed an 
itinerary for himself, and I am bound to add that 
his mileage differs very materially from that of 
Mr. Murray. 

Small bodies of horsemen were in attendance 
at various points along the banks, to give assist- 
ance and direct the course of the steamers through 
the sand-banks. The Ornament of the Two Seas 
steamed ahead of the Royal steamers, which waited 
for the Prince's punt, and at 2.30 p.m. arrived at 
Minieh. A Governor, or Bey, and his suite were 
in attendance, a gathering of the curious cavasses 
and sheiks grouped on the banks of the river. 
Two standards floated from nag- staffs at the head 
of a flight of wooden steps at the landing-place. 
Long before we reached the city — if it may be 



172 SUGAR FACTORY. [chap. 

called so — the tall chimney — not quite safe or 
straight, by the bye — of the Viceroy's sugar fac- 
tory was in view before us, tainting the air with 
a column of smoke ; and when we landed and 
got through introductions and salutations, we were 
led to the factory, which fronts the river. 

There is a large plant of machinery by Derosne, 
Cail, & Co., of Paris ; but the cane is put between 
the rollers by men, instead of being gathered in 
by the machine. The furnaces under the boilers are 
fed by the refuse of the cane, which is carried away 
and spread out to dry in the sun, after it has been 
crashed. The heat and glare, the swarthy figures, 
nearly naked, toiling, with strange cries and yells, 
at the never-ending work of feeding the many gaping 
furnace-mouths with the light fuel, which blazed 
away in a series of flash-like outbursts, suggested an 
Inferno. We had to mount the top of the boiler 
to inspect the crushing machinery, and then take 
a look at the refining pans and operations. The 
number of young girls and boys moving about in 
the smothering atmosphere did not produce an 
agreeable effect, and we were glad to be released 
from statistical researches and get into the air. 

Out of doors there was one of those spectacles 
too common in Egypt. A procession of girls, from 



vi.] SUGAR MANUFACTURE. 173 

five to twelve years of age, was moving up an 
inclined plane to the second story of a building 
where the masons were at work, each with a heavy 
basket of bricks, or heap of mortar on her head. 
Poor little creatures ! They sang a wailing sort of 
song, all together, as if to give them heart for 
their work. 

Another procession descended at the same time. 
It seemed as if their song was lighter and more 
cheerful. They had got rid of the load, and if 
they were going for another, at least they had not 
reached it yet. Some, seated in a circle on the 
ground, were eating from a pile of coarse, brown, 
ill-baked cakes of maize flour ; others were mixing 
mortar with their hands. Boys and girls, half- 
naked, were sweeping up the fragments of cane 
which fell from the loaded camels that came in 
solemn file ceaselessly from the fields with their rich 
burthens. These were thrown on the ground of the 
outer yard, and formed in large heaps, whence they 
were removed in armfuls by the men, who took them 
to the crushing mills. The factory can turn out 500 
kantars of 1001b. each in the day, and has produced 
60,000 kantars in the year. The sugar, which fetches 
about k\d. a pound, is very white and exceedingly 
sweet. The refuse molasses is sold to the natives, 



174 THE TOMATO MERCHANT. [chap. 

in large sealed jars, and there is also a rum or raki 
factory in connection with the factory. The estab- 
lishment is one of the more important enterprises 
of the Viceroy, and is worked on his account with 
very profitable results. He employs 1,500 camels for 
transport, not to speak of steamers, barges, &c. The 
men get 6d. } the children 3d., a day for their work, 
which is not bad considering the price of provisions. 
The Prince and Princess arrived in the evening, but 
it was too dark for them to visit the factory. 

There was nothing to be seen in the town. The 
Governor has a pretty garden, and there is a fair 
market ; ' the bazaar was shut. As we strolled along 
the bank of the river after dinner — a very hazardous 
process by the bye, if it were not for the animated 
lamp-posts who line it — we came on a boy sitting 
in the darkness gravely under a tree, with a tray 
full of tomatoes. It was odd to find a young tomato 
merchant so full of faith in customers as to stay 
out at night in hope of a person coming to buy. 
But on inquiry, the affair wore a different aspect. 
Ali Bey averred that the boy had been put there to 
watch the basket by a man who had stolen the 
tomatoes from the Governor's garden. He, seeing 
Ali Bey, fled to the outer darkness of sugar-cane, 
and intended to couch there till we left, in which 



vi.] THE TELEGRAPH IF EGYPT. 175 

case he would come back for his tomatoes or his 
money. 

On our arrival some one wanted to send a tele- 
gram to Cairo to ask after our mails ; but the 
office was closed. It is the custom of the country 
to become stone dead from 12 till 3 o'clock. 
There was the English telegraphist, Mr. George — 
a very good artist, by the way — on board the Consul- 
General's steamer, and he was set to work to wake 
up the clerks along the line ; but, though specially 
warned, and, as might be supposed, expectant of the 
Eoyal progress, these gentlemen had cleverly cut 
off all communication with Cairo, and for hours 
the needle made no sign. Very probably the clerks 
will hear something not at all to their advantage 
for the artful stratagem. We are very apt to 
regard the ways of those who have not our ways 
just as the Greeks looked on the fashions of 
those whom they styled Barbarians. The Egyp- 
tians, who rise with the sun, would regard our 
shopkeepers and clerks as lazy ne'er-do-wells for 
lying in bed till 7 or 8 o'clock on a summer 
morning. It will be some time ere they are vexed 
with the habits and customs of people connected 
with the daily press. 



CHAPTER VII. 



BENI HASSAN. ALI EISA. EGYPTIAN POOR LAWS. 

PISHING AND SHOOTING. WATER-CARRIERS. SIOOT. 

6 — THE JEREED. 

Wednesday, February 10th.— (Minieh.) A lovely 
sunrise. As the dawn grew into day long nights 
of geese streaked the horizon — spoonbills, cranes, 
and flamingoes were visible stalking about on 
the margin of the sand-bank just opposite our 
boats. It was remarkable how silent they were. 
They were too hungry, perhaps, to cry out, or 
too wary to call attention to their doings at an 
early hour, when they were relying on our sleepiness, 
and venturing almost within shot. The Prince, to 
try their craft, his own and Webster's, resolved to 
remain at Minieh, "two shots at least" from the big 
gun having been promised to him. The Zenet el 
Bahareen did not go off till 8 a.m., leaving the 
Eoyal party behind. We were anxious to visit the 
monuments at Beni Hassan above, though we could 



chap, vii.] BENI HASSAN. 1 7 7 

not read their records of old-world history. Our 
course lay up a broader and more expanded Nile, 
the landscape only varied by the shape of the lime- 
stone formations on the right bank, by patches ol 
palms, dates, and cultivated land, and by the 
changing outline of the distant horizon of the 
Desert. The day was warm, the sun bright, vast 
quantities of geese, pelicans, ducks, cormorants, 
herons, and cranes on the sand-banks — no crocodile. 
It is a wonder there is even a bird, for the 
shouting of pilots on land and in boats rings on 
all sides. 

About two hours and a half paddling upwards 
brought us to the right bank below the caves of Beni 
Hassan. Before the steamer arrived at the mooring- 
place a polk of irregular cavalry came in view, 
capering along the sand. They were sheiks, who 
had been warned to wait with their horses for 
our party ; and as the vessel came to the shore 
the horsemen, dismounting, stood by their steeds 
to welcome us, and the children of Hassan, young 
and old, formed on the top in groups to inspect 
the arrival. Between the slope of sand, covered 
with boulders, which extends from the base of the 
cliff, there is a patch of cultivated land overflowed 
by the Nile at its rise, on which there is a small 

N 



178 THE GROTTOES. [chap. 

village ; southwards there are the remains of two 
larger villages — almost towns — which have a story. 
It is short. Ibrahim Pasha made an example of the 
inhabitants. They were as a race rather given to 
predatory practices, stopping boats, levying black- 
mail, and picking and stealing generally. So the 
ruler of the land made a swoop on them : such as 
he could catch at the first flight he slew, the others 
were sent to live in -scattered villages ; and, to make 
the place a sort of awful warning, he forbade any one 
to reside in the two towns. Not a soul lives, nor is 
any one allowed to harbour, in the roofless houses, 
the walls of which stand erect and apparently quite 
fit for use. The excavated tombs, of which " Murray" 
gives a good account, lie inland about a mile from 
the present shore. They are confined to one level or 
stratum of the rock, and extend for about three- 
quarters of a mile. A short ride over the fields, few 
of which were under crop, brought us to the sandy 
ascent to the ridge on which are the grottoes and 
mummy depositories. 

Dismounting, we climbed in single file up to a 
ledge, which forms a kind of esplanade in front 
of the line of grottoes. Although the weight of 
evidence and of learned opinion is against the 
impression, it is scarcely possible to believe, at 



vil] THE PICTURES ON THE WALLS. 179 

first sight, that these excavations, or cut-out cham- 
bers, were not intended for human residences. 
The ceilings are vaulted; externally, there are 
few ornaments. The roof of each chamber is 
supported on pillars, which divide it into three 
parts. These pillars differ in character ; some are 
polygons, with abacus ; others represent, it is 
supposed, water reeds, with capitals of lotus : 
some are of the natural colour of the stone ; 
others are stained red. The walls are covered with 
hieroglyphs, and in most of the chambers are deep 
mummy pits cut down in the rock, with the 
indents still visible by which the mummies were 
lowered to their resting-places. On the sides of 
the chambers, there is displaj^ed for us, as in a 
panorama, the whole life of the people who made 
them. We see them engaged in war and in 
hunting, in manufactures and in commerce, in 
fishing, in playing. "We see the trophies of their 
victories — a procession of prisoners from Asia, says 
Sir Gardner Wilkinson, because the men have 
beards and the women ankle-boots — nay, we know 
— our wise men say so — the name of their chief, 
Absha ; and of his people, Mes-segur ; and of 
the owner of the tomb, Nefoth ; and the date of 
his being, viz. in the reign of Osirtasen I. and II., 

n 2 



ISO WRITINGS ON THE WALLS. [chap. 

who reigned long ere Joseph came into Egypt. 
Barbers are shaving and nail-cutting ; glass-blowers 
are at work ; statuaries ; wrestlers contending, red 
and black, in pairs ; criminals undergoing punish- 
ment ; members of chess-clubs engaged at their 
game ; the birds and animals of forest and plain, 
and the fishes of sea and river. M. Victor Hugo 
would be horrified to hear that the comprachicos 
practised their trade in the time of the Pharaohs ; 
for the critics aver that certain curious people, 
depicted on the walls, are dwarfs and deformed 
persons in the suite of grandees ! It has been 
remarked that the horse does not appear in the 
more ancient Egyptian monuments, and that the 
first representations of it are found in those of 
the eighteenth dynasty, about 1,500 years B.C. 

We wandered from chamber to chamber in 
wonder, not always silent, Professor Owen examin- 
ing stones ; Mr. Eowler measuring ; each man 
interpreting, after his fashion, the scenes painted 
in blue, red, and black on the walls. In our train 
came all the Italian servants and the Turkish 
chibouquejees — for note that these latter are like 
our shadows ; sometimes they precede instead of 
following, and go on shore whenever we do ; 
generally, too, selecting, as we discovered, the 



vil] an incubus. 181 

best horses, and delighting to scour the plain, 
with our pipe-stems, like bundles of fishing-rods, 
under their arms. It was worth while to notice 
the interest taken in the grottoes by the Europeans, 
and the utter indifference manifested by the Turks. 
The cares of the former were divided between pro- 
viding us with slight animal comforts, lugged up 
from the steamer, and seeing the caves. The 
latter were intent on making coffee and preparing 
our pipes, exclusively. 

Interesting as the excavations are, there is a 
grievance and an eyesore intolerable in every cave. 
The army of Snobland has been upon them. It is 
some consolation that few English names could be 
made out, though one "Q. B. Elliott," in 1868, 
cut his name boldly on the rock of a temple, and 
Brown, Jones, and Bobinson have left their 
marks. 

There was a great terror on the fellah sheiks and 
their followers who were with us — a silence so un- 
usual to those who know what it is to be persecuted 
for baksheesh, that it invited inquiry. Well, Ali 
Bisa, later in the day, as we were all sitting on the 
ledge of rocks, enjoying the beautiful view of the 
Nile valley as it spread its sheet of green, like a 
broad riband laid down in the midst of the Desert 



182 A SMALL INCIDENT. [chap 

sand-hills, admitted that lie had something to do 
with it. But what that something was he would not 
tell : it was a matter which had happened to himself 
years ago, when he visited the place in company with 
M. de Lesseps' family, and the result of which was 
that the sheik then and there present would like very 
much a chance of putting a bullet into Ali Eey's 
interior ; whence it may be surmised that the said 
sheik was rather the worse in some way for the 
transaction. 

Whenever Ali Eisa went away for a moment there 
was a fellah man or boy by one's side, pointing to 
the palm of his hand, and uttering softly that horrid 
dissyllable—" Baksheesh." Little boys then bore 
down boldly with calcareous casts of marine shells 
and held them aloft, with the words, " Antic ! Antic ! 
Baksheesh ! " till the redoubtable Bey's fez came in 
view, when they collapsed at once. Beturning a little 
in advance of the party towards the steamer, I had a 
proof of either the blindness or the cunning of the 
fellah. I rode towards the village, and came between 
it and a little girl, who was tending goats in 
some high grass on the sand-hill. The instant she 
saw me, the frightened creature abandoned her 
charge, and with piercing cries fled towards her 
home. Her wailing increased in shrillness as she 



vil] DOLCE FAR N1ENTE. 183 

perceived I cut off her retreat. She darted past the 
horse as I reined up, and, sobbing still, ran into a 
hovel in front of me. A piece of silver could not 
tempt her near, and so I threw it on the sand, and 
pointed out the spot to the probable father and 
mother, who came out of the house. It was under 
their noses, but they could not see it. They were 
joined by others in the search, and all squatting 
down within a yard of where it lay bright and 
shining in the sun, either looked or made believe 
to look for it, poking about with their fingers, till 
one old fellow scraped the sand over it ; and so I left 
them groping assiduously, and hope they got it. On 
arriving at the steamer, there was a little excitement 
going on in connection with an old fisherman, who 
with the aid of a couple of men was spreading a 
hand-net in the river ; one end of it was fastened to 
an earthen jar, another to a buoy, and when they had 
payed the net out from the boat it floated upright 
down stream. The boat, hailed by Hamed, came 
alongside, and the old fellow handed up a basket of 
fish, which was brought to Professor Owen. He 
identified five species among the twelve fish — three 
siluroids, the bagrus and apirtes — a fish like a carp, 
which Hamed says attains the weight of 120 lb. in 
the Upper Nile — and others. 



184 BIRDS AXD BEASTS. [chap. 

Then we had nothing to do. Even luncheon was 
eaten — a light one, only caviare and tnnny fish, 
sardines, tongue, ham, rice, various jams, fruit, 
Sauterne, claret, soda-water, coffee, and pipes. Dolce 
far niente came on us as on the natives, who sat 
chattering on the banks. This is their easy time, 
poor fellows ! Soon they will be toiling with heads 
in the sun, and legs in the water, for weary days and 
weeks and months. It is pleasant to sit under the 
awniug on deck, and gaze on the water flashing in 
the hot sun — to peer into dreamland — to wander 
away there till we are lost, self, identity, and all! 
Hark ! There is a trumpet- sound from the very heart 
of dreamland, summoning the airy hosts of its armies 
to battle ! It is only an easy snore from the cabin. 
But it wakes us up. It is not to be endured thus to 
dawdle away our time. What is to be seen through 
the glass ? Nothing save sails and the smoke of two 
sugar-factory chimneys — most odious signs of civili- 
zation in the land of the Pharaohs. Stay ! There is a 
magnificent eagle placidly floating down the river on 
a carcase. He is far away; Mr. Fowler takes a rifle 
and tries to stalk the bird-king, but as he creeps 
among the sand-hills, two jackals dash out of the 
fields far below, and the eagle, rising slowly from 
his ignoble prey, alights on a sand-bank. Fowler 



vil] EGYPTIAN POOR LAWS. 185 

got a shot at a jackal, but it was a long one, and 
the rifle threw high. I tried my fortune with the 
eagle as he sat on the opposite bank, and sighting 
Whit worth for 300 yards, sent a bullet so straight 
that the on-lookers thought it broke his leg. The 
sand flew up over him ; but the eagle rose from the 
midst of his courtier crows and ravens, and circled 
away to some securer roosting-place. It was now 
4 o'clock, and there was no sight of our Prince or 
his fleet. We open our mail-bags which were de- 
livered last night. 

Is it ill-natured to confess that we read of skating 
in London and Paris, and of snow storms, with 
some sort of selfish delight in our hot sun and 
warm wind? To-day was heavenly — a day in 
which to live was enough for all the outer sense, 
and in which the inner life was possessed by a calm 
serenity. 

In the Times there was a heart-rending account of 
"Death by Starvation" — a woman and her infant 
starved to death in Christian millionaire London — 
si plein d'or et de miser e. Her husband driven mad ! 

What a reproach to us, to hear Ali Eisa, apropos 
of the way in which slaves run away to the Soudan, 
explain how, by the law of the land, every sheik is 
obliged to feed all comers for the night, and give 



186 LABOUR IN VAIN. [chap. 

them lodging, so that no man can starve in this poor 
benighted heathen land. Slaves can or could thus 
escape to their pet Soudan. Whilst we were waiting 
for the Prince, a mild excitement was created by 
throwing small coin on shore, which led to furious 
and protracted controversy among sheiks, men and 
boys, in which an idiot took a large part, and, as is 
often the way of the world, got the money. Towards 
dusk the Eoyal steamers appeared. When the fleet 
was moored, the Prince started for a large sand-bank 
opposite, and we had two draws of the net, and caught 
one small fish, which was not a rich reward for the 
labour of twenty-five or thirty people — hard labour in 
tugging at ropes and shouting vigorously — hard for 
the men, who had to carry us to and from the boats 
over soft mud, and land the fishermen on the bank, 
and row them back. The Prince takes great delight 
in this, or would do so if the net would draw any- 
thing in the shape of fish to shore. The failure of 
the net is a misfortune. I believe it was left to a 
distinguished naval officer to see that the net was 
all right. Why to a naval officer ? Nets are used 
in fresh water, nets are used in salt water ; but 
what an admiral can know about the sort of article 
which is best suited to catch fish in the Nile more 
or better than any other man, I am at a loss to 



vil] DRAWING A BLANK. 187 

guess or imagine, unless it be that the said admiral 
is very fond of fishing with nets. The result may be 
described in a few words : there are no fish caught. 
The net is rowed carefully out to a shelving sand- 
bank ; one end is landed and given over to a party of 
amateurs invited from the flotilla generally and to 
the four sailors of the Ariadne, who "work" the 
fishing and the boating, and keep the shoulders of 
the Egyptian mariners to the wheel. One squad is 
landed to man the shore end of the rope, and the 
boat is then rowed off, making a wide sweep, and 
returning to shore with the other end, which is seized 
by party No. 2. Then with a pull all together the 
ropes are dragged in, the Prince working as hard as 
the best of them, — the sailors in the water, the 
amateurs shouting and slipping in the soft sand ; 
nearer and nearer comes what ought to be the purse. 
It is landed at last. It is empty. Not a fin. " Oh, 
deuce take Admiral Blank ! " 

The Duke and his friends were invited to 
dine on board the Eoyal steamer; and Achmet 
Hassan, the Captain, was asked to join the 
party, whom he entertained by his liveliness 
and good-humour, and by the expressiveness of 
his broken English, in which he managed to make 
hard hits. He remembered, when on a visit to 



1S8 LAND SLIPS. [chap. 

England years ago, seeing the Prince — " nice small 
boy," and before dinner was over he rose amid 
cheering and laughter, and proposed the " Health 
of the Queen of England," and added, " Get you 
all up, you know." The Prince of Wales then gave 
the " Health of His Highness the Viceroy," which 
was warnilv received. The Governor of Sioot, Abde 
Bey, who came down to meet the Prince and Prin- 
cess after dinner, was also invited, and had pipes 
and coffee on board. 

Thursday, February 11th. — To make up for our 
delay, which, if not dull, was becoming fraught 
with danger of being overtaken by the Tourists, 
the little fleet started at 4 o'clock this morning 
from Beni Hassan. There was a sensible shock 
given to our vessel soon after we left, which awoke 
most of the sleepers. A mass of earth detached 
itself from a bank of the river and fell into the 
water, creating a wave which splashed violently 
against the side, and threw the water into the 
windows of some of the cabins. There must be 
frequent changes produced by such agencies in the 
riverine farms, as in the Mississippi lands, where a 
man may find a good slice of his estate gone when 
he wakes in the morning. 

It must not be imagined that the Royal pro- 



vii.] THE WATER CARRIERS. 1S9 

gress makes a great sensation in the country side. 
The servants of the Governor, the local officers, 
and the cavasses, are surrounded by a crowd of the 
curious — water-carriers, and idlers ; but the ini- 




inense mass ot 
the populace 
is untouched. 
The women 
are rarely to 
be seen in the 
crowd. A knot 
of them here 
and there, 
coming down 
to fill their 
water-jars at the landing-places, linger a moment 
or two longer perhaps than usual, and peep out 
above the folds of their dresses at the steamers ; 



190 BIRDS ON THE BANKS. [chap, 

but it is a languid interest after all, and they 
stalk back, camel-like, swaying easily under their 
heavy burthens, to their homes, and cast no 
lingering look behind. They do not care how far 
they expose their legs — at least, they go as far as 
srny Highlander, and not quite so far as a ballet- 
girl ; but they are most careful as to neck and 
shoulders ; and I don't think of the hundreds we 
have seen one has permitted the eye to rest on so 
much of the upper section of the torso as is so 
kindly authorized by fashion to be a correct com- 
promise with the nude. It may be inferred that 
there is no very definite idea in their minds as to 
who the Prince of "Wales is, and that they do not 
know much beyond the limits of their own village 
and the local potentate. 

The whole of the day was a marvel of loveliness, 
to be marked with the whitest of chalk. The Nile 
passes — more properly speaking, rushes — through a 
richer country. There are sugar plantations, which 
need manufactories at Ehoda, and elsewhere, to con- 
sume the produce. There are more verdant fields 
and broader patches of cultivation. The waterworks 
are more frequent, and the labours of the shadoof 
more constant. The stream is covered with sails, 
or boats impelled against the wind by rowers tug- 



to] MANFALOOT. 191 

ging at great oars, to the rhythm of a plaintive 
chorus. Then we come to a high range of rock 
on the right bank, Gibel Aboofayda, and catch 
glimpses of the Desert encroaching here and there. 
There were heaps of birds along the shore ; pro- 
digious multitudes of blue and grey herons on the 
rocks spoke of plenty of fish in the river. Passing 
the rocks of Aboofayda, the Prince made some 
excellent shots at individual cormorants, swarms of 
which were roosting and flying about the recesses 
of these grand cliffs. The range of limestone on 
our left is bored in all directions by square aper- 
tures, leading to the chambers, in which mummies 
of sacred animals and possibly those of men were 
buried. The navigation became very difficult, and 
even our light steamer went once aground. 
The river winds and twists like a snake, and 
is as mischievous. A large town which we 
passed towards evening, Manfaloot, was half de- 
stroyed some years ago by the washing away of 
the bank on which it stood. Here we shot by 
two dahabeahs, one with the British, another with 
the United States flag ; and farther on we over- 
took a very large and handsome boat flying the 
French tricolour, which greeted the Prince subse- 
quently, with a royal salute from pistols, double 




We saw Sioot for more than an hour-and-a-half, 
ere our steamer could reach the landing-place at 
dusk. There were considerable preparations to re- 
ceive the Koyal party. About thirty irregular 
cavalry were drawn up on the bank, and the Governor, 
Abde Bey, and his functionaries, with horses, car- 
riages, and any number of donkeys, were in waiting. 
The shore was brilliantly illuminated. Sioot has a 
population of 30,000 souls, and is a place of 
great importance in Upper Egypt. It is the start- 
ing-point and terminus of the caravans between 
Dongola and the province. Our party disem- 
barked and went through the town. A bright-eyed 
boy, who joined in the informal procession of natives 
in our train, burst out into very good English, 



vii.] THE JEREED. 193 

and shook hands with every one all round. He is 
brother of the American Consul, who can speak 
no English; and he learned to speak and write at 
a school established by some American philanthro- 
pists in the city. There is no British Consul ; 
but the Spaniards, of all people, have a functionary 
of that description. 

We visited in our ramble a school maintained by 
the State, or, rather, passed in review a line of youths, 
by no means remarkable for good looks, attired in 
French cut frock-coats, red trousers with blue stripe, 
and fez cap. They might have looked tolerable 
in their native dress ; but it would be difficult 
to pick out a lot of more ill-favoured lads than 
those fifty who were presented to us. There were 
a number of others caught sight of at an open 
door in a building in which they appeared to be 
packed very close, but the door was shut on the 
inquiring stranger as he approached. After visiting 
the school, the party were entertained by the irre- 
gular cavalry, a few of whom went through the 
exercise of the jereed. There was nothing very 
remarkable about the showmen, except the wonderful 
rapidity with which they reined up their horses, 
checked and turned them at full speed. But the 
leader, armed with a long lance, wielded it with 

o 



194 THE CITY. [chap. 

much expertness, and set a fine example to his troop, 
who might be useful as light cavalry, and who cer- 
tainly were very picturesque. It was long after 
dark before the Prince's fleet came up at full 
speed — rather a perilous feat in the night. The 
Prince came on board the Duke's steamer after 
dinner. 

February 12th. — (Sioot.) A cold night; thermo- 
meter 58° at 9 a.m. It was a very disagreeable day 
— a high wind and clouds of dust. The Duke's 
party started after breakfast for Sioot, attended by 
Hamed. The city lies about two miles from the 
landing-place. The donkey hoys were unusually 
malignant and persecuting, and even Hamed had to 
rouse himself to use strong language, which on some 
occasions was rendered into muscular English by 
the Chelebees. We set off, having asserted freedom 
of election in the matter of donkeys, and made 
a fine entrance into the city, which consists of the 
usual mud-bricked houses, built anyhow, and caval- 
caded the bazaar, made a solemn purchase of tar- 
booshes and shot, at very fair prices, and returned 
just as the Eoyal party was setting out for the 
same visit. After breakfast the Prince and Princess, 
attended by Mrs. Grey and suite, visited the city 
and the American Mission School, under the charge 



vil] COURSE OF THE RIVER. 195 

of the Eev. Mr. Hogg — eighty pupils. As it is 
very likely many an Eton man who knows all 
about the Po and the Tiber is ignorant of 
the course of the Humber or the Tweed, so 
the lads, who answered very creditably, were, to 
Sir Samuel Baker's great astonishment, found 
to be unacquainted with the sources of the 
Nile. From the school the Boyal travellers went 
to the Mosque, and thence proceeded to the 
Egyptian school, but the boys were absent, as it 
was a Friday. The rooms, containing some twenty 
beds, were well ventilated and comfortable. The 
Princess, in mounting her horse, sustained what 
Dr. Minter called a luxation of the thumb, which 
gave her great pain for the time, and made tears 
come to her eyes, but she never complained of it. 
The Prince and Princess made purchases in the 
bazaar, and went back to the fleet, which started 
at 2.30 p.m. On returning to the vessels, natives 
came on board with specimens of pottery, and 
sold a number of jars, coloured very prettily red, 
black, and white, of classical and elegant shapes. 

The country around Sioot is very rich, and 
spreads far along the banks of the river. The 
course of the stream is tortuous, and the channel 
difficult to keep. And here is a paradox : " If 

o 2 



196 NO CROCODILES. [chap. 

the steamers get aground going up now, and the 
river keeps falling every day till June, how on 
earth are they to get back in March or April?" 
Thus asks Inductive Inquiry. To whom replies 
Experience in the shape of the Captain. And Ali 
Bey replies : " The river goes down, indeed, but 
as it does the shallows disappear, and the waters, 
in a more contracted channel, scoop out better 
marked channels." Voila comme les choses s'ex- 
pliquent ! It is a NE. wind, which is a very 
different sort of fellow from what he is in 
England. On board the ship it is better than on 
land, but still the dust blows into our cabins, 
and it is too hot to shut the ports to keep it 
out. Whether the river be less fishy here or not I 
cannot say, but the absence of cormorants, compared 
with their great abundance lower down, was remark- 
able ; nor were flamingos, spoonbills, or ducks very 
abundant. No crocodiles as yet. They are very 
provoking. A reward is to be given for showing 
one — usual fee 10 piastres — if he be slain, the 
reward to the first demonstrator is 40 piastres. Be 
sure the Arabs and fellahs are keen enough to look 
out for them. But our great following, and the 
noise of the paddles of so many steamers, not to 
speak of the shouting of the men employed to keep 



vil] THE STUFFING BOX. 197 

watcli and ward over our course, have given the alarm 
to the timid water-lizards, which, between the con- 
stant "potting" of dahabeah sportsmen, and the 
never-ceasing persecutions to which infant members 
of the family are exposed, lead a troublous life 
below the First Cataract. 

The Prince's stuffer, Mr. Baker, has a workshop 
on deck in the bow, formed of canvas and marked 
"private," but is not unfrequently aggressed upon 
by collectors of feathers for fly-tying. Science is 
always exposed to the interruptions of the outer 
world. He has got in a forward state spoonbills, 
flamingos, mallard, merlin, hawk-owl, herons, cranes, 
cormorants, hoopoes, doves, but of land game birds 
little or none. I doubt if ever any one visited 
the Kile under more favourable circumstances, so 
far as the means of enjoying it are concerned; but 
the Prince is not acting in accordance with the 
advice given to travellers of seeing everything 
while he can, and not putting it off till he returns, 
as every one hopes he will. 

At an hour before sunset the fleet turned bows in- 
shore, and the mooring stakes were driven into the 
bank near a village called Isbak. The Prince and a 
few friends went out shooting, and got some pigeons, 
a small owl, a hoopoe, &c. They were attended by 



198 PIGEONS. [chap. vii. 

a crowd, who were highly pleased when the Prince 
ordered money to be given for the pigeons he had 
killed. It is said that the natives do not like one 
to come after the pigeons close to the villages, as 
they are apt to fly away to other districts when 
persecuted by small shot, but that they do not care 
if the sportsmen go out into the fields. The villages 
swarm with pigeons, which are lodged far more 
comfortably than their owners, and the young ones 
are a very valuable addition to the limited resources 
of the poor fellah. There was a glorious sunset, 
the finest we have yet seen, over a distant line of 
Desert hills which closes the wide expanse of bearded 
wheat, dotted with dates and acacias, and here and 
there blurred by the brown heap which constitutes 
a fellah village, crouching under groves of palms. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GEBEL HAREEDI. S0XHADJ. GIRGEH. KENEH. DEN- 

DERA. COPTOS. 

February 13th. — (Isbali.) One week to-day since 
we left Cairo. The vo} r age seems to have proved 
of service to the Princess, who looks better than 
she did on arriving in Egypt. The fleet moved 
off at 5.30 a.m., and went at a steady pace up the 
river. A steamer was discerned following ns far 
off. " The tourists are coming ! " was the univer- 
sal cry. Every glass was directed to the ship. At 
last she was pronounced to be a trading steamer 
from Cairo, and a feeling of relief was at once ex- 
perienced. At 9 o'clock, the immense cliffs of Gebel 
Hareedi, towering perpendicularly upwards from the 
sloping base of debris marked by the most enormous 
boulders, presented a fine appearance. There was 
some discussion as to then' height. I estimated them 
at 300 feet from the base of the debris. Mr. Fowler 
put them at 700, which was surely too much. At 
11 o'clock a.m. the steamers ran in and made fast to a 



200 SON HAD J. [chap. 

high bank, and after breakfast all hands went on 
board the Royal steamer to hear Mr. Fowler read 
his report on the Suez Canal. Mr. Fowler dealt 
tenderly with Mr. Stephenson's dicta, and was lenient 
to Mr. Hawkshaw's cautious, yet compromising, 
report on the Canal. His own opinion was that the 
Canal would not pay unless a good deal of the Indian 
and Chinese Cape traffic were diverted into it. Lord 
Palmerston declared the Canal ought not to be made. 
Mr. Stephenson said it could not be made. Mr. Hawk- 
shaw averred it could not be finished in the esti- 
mated time, and at the estimated cost. Mr. Fowler 
declares it can be made at the estimated time and 
cost ; that Lord Palmerston' s objections have been 
met by recent changes in the relations of the 
Company to the Egyptian Government; that Mr. 
Stephenson's opinion is to be regretted; that Mr. 
Hawkshaw's is erroneous ; but that the Canal will 
not pay, unless there is something more than mail 
and passenger traffic to go through it, in addition 
to the trade which it may create for itself. 

At 1 o'clock we halted at Sonhadj, where the 
vessels coaled, and the Prince went out shooting, but 
got no sport. There was a very small dahabeah 
here living the United States flag, and apparently 
laden with " notions " of various kinds ; and some 



viii.] MISNEAH AND GIRGEH. 201 

distance farther on, we met a Britisher, going down 
the river, which left Cairo two months ago. The 
inhabitants were drawn np in rows at the landing- 
place, where the officials were in waiting, with a 
staff of cavasses in line to keep the little boys in 
order; and at 2.30 p.m. the flotilla was off again. 
At 4.20 p.m. passed Misneah, and, hugging the 
right bank, made way against the strong current 
which sweeps at the base of the great crags, rising 
in well defined strata to a height of 300 or 400 
feet above us. At one spot a body of dromedary 
cavalry came down to serve as escort in case of 
need — some fifteen or eighteen men — very wild and 
picturesque-looking fellows, with long guns and 
pistols in their belts ; but they were headed off by 
a projecting cliff, dived into a cleft in the moun- 
tain chain, and we saw them no more. The course 
of the stream is carefully marked out by boughs of 
palms and long feathery waving reeds stuck on the 
shallows; boats, with shouting crews, moored at 
difficult places ; and watchmen who hail us from 
the sand-banks and isolated shores of little islands. 

At Grirgeh, 341 miles from Cairo, which we 
reached at 6.30 p.m., the fleet was put in shore- 
wards and lay to for the night. The Governor 
is one of the richest men in these parts, of an 



202 GOOD BEHAVIOUR. [chap. 

ancient family, possessing a splendid house at Man- 
faloot, which is open to all travellers. A line 
of fifty lanterns, suspended from a line of posts, 
lighted up the landing-place. There was the usual 
establishment of animated beacons, with their blazing 
torches of pine-wood in iron hoops at the end of 
long poles. Tents were pitched on an open space 
by the river-banks, outside the town, at which there 
was to have been an entertainment of music and 
dancing- girls ; but they were sent away, as it was 
not possible to endure either the singing or the 
dancing. Hundreds of men and boys assembled round 
the fires and the blazing beacons, and sat on the 
banks far into the late evening ; but it is observable 
that, whether from fear of the cavasses, or natural 
good manners, they did not crowd round the Prince's 
ship, and stare into the windows, which were ablaze 
with wax-candles and gilded mirrors. What a contrast 
to that crowd at Wimbledon, which no force of arms, 
or threats, or prayers, could restrain from mobbing 
the Sultan ! When the Prince went on shore for a 
few moments, there was a considerable gathering 
of the people, but they did not press upon or in- 
commode him, and many of those who came nearest 
belonged to the flotilla itself. Our ever-joyous cap- 
tain, Achmet Hassan, came on board to dinner, and 



viil] NATIVE NOTIONS. 203 

was as quick and entertaining as ever. Fourteen years 
at sea, poor man ! ere he Lad a little taste of shore 
life. Yet he prefers the sea to Nile navigation. " I 
never go down all day now — paddle-box, always 
paddle-box, — shouting Fulley speed ! Halfey speed ! 
Turney-stern 1 At sea, . give my course to officer — 
lie down, go sleep. Sea much better." Ali Eisa 
pointed out a passage in Lady Duff Gordon's Let- 
ters which he was reading, as a proof of bad taste. 
It related to the Prince of Wales's marriage. Omar, 
her servant, was represented to have asked when the 
Prince " would see his wife's face," which Ali Eisa 
regarded as indelicate. So the Captain to-night, in 
giving a general invitation to his house at Cairo, 
on our return, said, " I will show you everything 
— everything — only" (he smiled with all his white 
teeth) " not my wife." 

"But," said the Duke, "when you come to me 
in Scotland, you will see the Duchess." 

" Each country has its customs. If I take my 
wife to Scotland, I let you see her face." 

The Captain says he has only one wife ; and then 
he taps his breast and laughs, and adds, ."I am 
Englishman — one wife — one wife." 

There has been a difficulty between our vessel and 
Colonel Stanton's ever since we started ; and a 



204 ITALIAN DOMESTICS. [chap. 

want of good faith in the matter of milk, meat, 
and provisions generally, is reciprocally attributed 
to the Commissariat department. When the two 
steamers come alongside, the cackle of the poultry 
in the pens, and the gobbling of the turkeys on 
the paddle-boxes, is quite overpowered by the ani- 
mated outburst of speech in which Yirgilio, Giovanni, 
Attilio, Griacomo talk all together to Cruiseppe and 
Filippo, Geronimo and Baptiste, over the side. One 
of our waiters, going on board the Consular boat 
to indulge in the charming gabble so dear to Italian 
servitori, was ejected by the Captain. Great wailing, 
and a complaint to Ali Bey. An explanation is called 
for. The Captain makes it clear that the Italian 
was in undress, and could not be identified as a 
person entitled to come on board, but recalls the 
expulsion and manual application. Honour is satis- 
fied, and peace is restored between Captain and man 
by an affectionate salute on the cheek. A case of 
champagne was opened last night sine permissu 
superiorum, and three bottles were abstracted. Our 
Captain infers that it must be Christians who did so, 
" because/ 5 observes he, logically, "my crew all Mus- 
sulmen — Mussulmen only drink water." Perhaps so. 

February 14th.— Left Grirgeh at sunrise— such 
a sunrise ! — a cloudless sky, still studded with 



viil] CROCODILES. 205 

twinkling stars in the deep blue of the far west, 
while the east was glowing with orange and amber. 
The sunrise in Egypt, at this time of year, is 
rather colourless — too white, owing to a want of 
watery clouds in the sky. A very fine morning, 
nevertheless; wind firm, NE., fresh, but not keen 
or chest-searching ; and a sun which gained in power 
every hour. There is a sharp look-out for croco- 
diles ; but the Eeis says it is in vain, for the 
water is too cold and the air is not warm enough ; 
yet Sir S. Baker holds, that when the water 
is cold and the sun is as bright as it is now, 
crocodiles come out — or should do so. But they do 
not. The Governor of Grirgeh, if rightly interpreted, 
declared that a crocodile had not visited the neigh- 
bourhood for the last sixty years ! But we have 
passed the place where Lord H. Scott shot a beast, 
according to Hamed, and where the Prince saw 
many when he was last here. 

After breakfast lay to off the right bank below 
Earshoot for a time, having passed all that 
remains of a large town, the rest of which will 
soon, in all likelihood, follow into the bed of 
the Nile. The tenacity with which the people 
cling to the banks of the river, in spite of awful 
warnings and constant depositions, is curious. 



206 KEN EH. [chap. 

As we lay to the dahabeah Feodalinda, with 
British colours, swept down with the stream, firing 
a little salute from all her armoury, with three 
Britishers standing, with heads uncovered, on deck. 
To us it was a day of rest and thankfulness. To the 
poor fellahs who were toiling by the river banks, only 
to be distinguished from it in colour by the cloths 
round their loins, and their head-pieces of felt, the 
shadoof gives no rest from sunrise to sunset. Friday 
— their Sabbath — brings them no repose. It is said 
that there is a great scarcity to be feared from the 
want of water in the Nile, and that the Viceroy is 
making preparations to meet it by extensive pur- 
chases of corn — for he is not a political economist. 
He does not understand the principles of free 
trade as they were applied to a certain country in 
1846. The approach to Keneh is indicated by 
the rafts of water-jars — some many thousands in 
number — floating down the river. On the right 
great fields of water-jars lay on the beach ; and, on 
nearing the town, a group of six white cylindrical 
windmills, with extinguisher-shaped tops, mark the 
hill, or irregular plateau, beneath which the town is 
situated. In the present state of the Nile it lies 
some two miles away from the high bluff covered 
with palm trees, and occupied by a native village, 



viil] an escape. 207 

by which the vessels were drawn up. There was 
a crowd of turbaned sheiks waiting to do the Koyal 
party honour — the British Consular Agent, the 
Deputy Governor of Esne, and many individuals of 
repute in their way, with retinues of men, horses, 
and asses — but it was too late to go to the town. 
The Prince, however, accepted an invitation to the 
Consular Agent's for the evening to see a dance. 

There might have been a serious accident on our 
arrival here. The Mudir had caused a landing-place 
to be erected on a platform of wood, which was 
covered with turf and earth, so that the visitors 
might walk from the deck of the vessels on shore. 
Getting on shore is one of the events of the day, 
and there is a rapid movement from the steamers as 
soon as the planks are laid. Fortunately, there are 
always adventurous young men ready to take the 
first step. Some said that the steamer, on coming to, 
gave the platform a shake ; others averred there was 
an original defect of weakness in its constitution. 
Any way, as Lord Carington was bounding towards 
the bank, a crash was heard, and he and the platform 
tumbled down together, involving Mr. Montagu and 
Prince Louis in part of the ruin. Lord Carington 
fell into the Nile, but he soon scrambled up the 
bank, dripping like a Newfoundland, and not a bit 



208 THE DONKEY BOYS. [chap. 

the worse for his little immersion. It might have 
been a very awkward fall for the Princess, and for a 
time the Mudir was in great disfavour. But all 's 
well that ends well. 

There is bad news for the sportsmen. The 
Prince's dogs roam about in vain, and never have 
need to stiffen tail or arrest their course over 
the fields. There are no quails, and one gets tired 
of shooting pigeons, hawks, and weeny owls. 
When it was dark, Colonel Marshall and I went on 
shore, intending to see the fantasia at the Consular 
Agent's, and were immediately beset by an irresistible 
crowd of donkey boys. He is not quite a feather 
weight, and except a French giant at a station on the 
Suez Canal, and an awful negro who encountered us 
at one of our halts, the like of him in stature was 
not seen in Egypt. But what will not donkey boys 
dare ? They seized on him as if he were a baby, and 
by sheer force and united efforts put him first on 
one donkey and then on another, according to the 
temporary success of opposing factions. In vain 
he frustrated their efforts by the simple expedient 
of putting his feet on the ground, and letting the 
delighted donkey walk away from between his legs. 
They returned to the charge again and again. The 
night was hot, and the climate exhausting, and the 



Tin.] THE ENLEVEMENT. 209 

donkey boys were legion. I succumbed after a brief 
struggle, and sat watching from my saddle a crowd 
revolving in the dust, amidst which F. M. now 
upreared his huge bulk in spite of himself, now 
descending to the earth, striking out like a steam 
hammer, till, worn out and defeated, he called for 
help I could not give, and was led off in triumph 
towards Iveneh. I followed, and as soon as we were 
fairly disposed of, the crowd melted away, and left 
us to some six or seven of the victors, who goaded 
the animals into a gallop through the village, rousing 
up all the dogs to madness by their cries. Suddenly 
there darted out of a grove the most prodigious- 
looking ruffian we had ever seen — Frenchman, negro, 
British cuirassier, all were dwarfs to him — and as 
he rushed down, whirling a six-foot staff shod with 
iron, I instinctively clapped my hand on my revolver, 
and F. M. exclaimed, " Did you ever see such a 
scoundrel in your life ? " My revolver was of course 
in its case in the cabin, but the apparition meant 
no harm. It turned out afterwards he was only the 
village watchman. But, quis custodiem custodiet? 
Watching an opportunity, I plucked his staff out of 
his hand, and, to make assurance doubly sure, handed 
it to F. M., who held it with iron grip, and gave it 
an occasional nourish over the owner's head, whose 

p 



210 TH£ FANTASIA. [chap. 

feelings were not too deep for words, for he } T elled 
hideously. With him in our train, we pricked over 
the plain in the dusk, crossed the dry bed of a 
branch of the Nile, and entered the town, which was 
like any other town in Egypt. We were guided to 
the scene of a fantasia by the dub-a-dub of the 
drums, and the noise of voices, and dismounted at a 
door surrounded by a crowd of people. The court 
inside was crammed with turbans, and the heat was 
smothering. The stairs leading up from the court to 
the first iloor of the Consular mansion were equally 
thronged. As we entered, a black servitor made us 
understand he wanted to announce us, and a great 
fear fell on us too. We had not been invited ! Nor 
had we been introduced to the Egyptian gentleman 
who was good enough to take on himself to represent 
the power of Great Britain and Ireland at Keneh. 
Moreover, we had seen and heard enough, for some 
of the dancers were visible at the doorway, and the 
music beat full on our ear. And so we mounted 
and fled, just as Ali Eisa came charging down 
to bear us to the presence. Pled, but not far or 
long. Flop ! down came F. M. and his donkey 
in the dust, and, once there, the latter refused to 
rise, and my quadruped evinced a strong tendency 
to follow his example. The donkey boys were not in 



Tin.] THE WATCHMAN. 211 

the least put out. Making for the first house at 
hand, one opened a door, and in a moment emerged, 
leading forth a hapless ass, which had fondly believed 
its work was over for the night. But out came the 
owner too ! And then such a clamour of words 
arose ! In the midst of the controversy we cantered 
off, just as the principal inhabitants were coming out 
to engage in the dispute, and steering our course 
through the intricate channels of the narrow lanes, 
reached the plain at last, and had a most delightful 
ride in the moonlight, which was asserting its 
supremacy, back to our steamer. The watchman was 
quite happy at the restoration of his staff, and at the 
receipt of a small gratuity ; and in order to assert his 
office and compensate himself for his temporary loss 
of dignity and power, he hit a donkey boy, who was 
doing nothing whatever, a smart tap on the skull 
with the iron end. The Almeahs, or dancing-girls 
of Keneh, are celebrated for their beauty — by the 
natives. They are exceedingly like British gipsy 
women of an ordinary type, but they do not bear 
such a good reputation. Here is a portrait of the 
fairest of them, who was not, however, so famous a 
dancer as a stumpy little woman, who had acquired 
the art of vibrating her person from the breast to 
the hips, whilst the rest of her body was motionless, 

p 2 



212 AN ALMEAR. [chap. 

to a degree wliicli is considered perfection. There 
is one mistake in the sketch. The dancer should 
not have shoes. 




February 15th. — (Keneh.) In the morning the 
Princess made her first acquaintance with an 
Egyptian Temple. True, it is 1,800 years old — quite 
a modern affair. True, it is so highly ornate that 
real antiquaries do not think much of it ; but surely 
it is something to gaze on the portrait of Cleopatra, 
and to see the name of her son by Julius Caesar 
carved in solid rock while they were still alive, as fresh 
as though it were done yesterday. It is something 
to wander through courts where Roman- legionaries 



Tin.] DENDERA. 213 

came from afar to worship the Egyptian Venus. 
To the Eoyal party, at all events, the ancient 
Temple and the neighbouring ruins were full of 
deep interest. The Temple was cleared some years 
ago by order of Mahomet Bey, but the sand appears, 
to be accumulating once more. 

After breakfast, the steamers crossed over to the 
other side of the river, and we set out to visit 
Dendera, which, in the present state of the Nile, is 
about two miles from the shore. The Prince mounted 
a horse belonging to the Viceroy's son, and the 
Princess rode her own milk-white and noisy donkey. 

The critics may talk as they please. They may 
call the figures " graceless," and abuse the " over- 
charged capitals they may style the columns 
" barbarous," an they list, but I am ignorant 
enough to agree with Belzoni, and to confess my 
admiration of this grand ruin — the most perfect, 
it is said, of any in Egypt. " But," say the 
Egyptologues, " that very perfection is a defect ! 
The long dead wall outside is hideous. When 
rifted and broken, the beauty of a temple is 
really seen." Here is a building of massive ma- 
sonry, finished exquisitely, 220 paces long, by 50 
paces broad, with a grand portico on twenty-four 
giant columns, 25 feet round and 40 feet high, 



214 DENDEBA. [chap. 

opening on columned chambers and halls engraved 
like a watch, older than any Christian temple 
in the world. The capitals are ornamented with 
women's heads with the ears of a cow. And 
it is too rich, and too new, and too perfect for 
the antiquaries ! These Ptolemies were mere 
mushroom nobodies. It is nothing that this 
Temple was built on the site of an edifice erected 
by Cheops himself. There was an offensive zodiac 
on the ceiling of the portico, which is enough 
to damn the whole place, for it is not Egyptian 
at all! It is now safe in Paris. Then there are 
Greek inscriptions ! And Aulus Avilius Flaceus, as 
prefect of the time, Aulus Fulvius Crispus, Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and Sarapion Trychambus, Com- 
mandant of the district, have had the audacity 
to record their names as the dedicators of the 
Temple to the very great goddess Aphrodite, 
whom the Egyptians called Athor, in the reign of 
Tiberius, when he was ordering the whole world 
to be taxed ! The portraits of Cleopatra, I admit, 
are disappointing ; but who has seen a satisfactory 
likeness of Mary Queen of Scots ? And this was 
cut in hard stone. The face and figure are marred 
by time, and so are those of Csesarion, her son by 
the great Julius ; who certainly ought to have 



vra.] THE RUINS. 215 

made a mark in the world, had he lived, and 
possessed any hereditary favours. Near the Temple 
of Athor there is another, very small, containing 
three chambers only. On the wall is cut the 
semblance of the Sacred Cow ; and it is related 
that when the Sepoys who came to Egypt with 
our Expedition from India, which landed on the 
shores of the Eed Sea, and marched by the old 
route to Keneh, visited the place, they all fell on 
their faces and worshipped the emblem. The whole 
building is full of interesting details. 

Another building still remains, and I shall 
leave it to antiquarians to decide whether it is a 
" lying-in " place or not — the building where 
Athor was confined, or a temple in honour of her 
child. Then there is a wide waste of ruins — 
walls, columns in various stages of decay, blocks 
of stone ; slabs, all covered with hieroglyphs, por- 
traits, emblems — the hawk, which is the Sun, with 
the Beginning and the End, Iris, and Nephthys, 
by its side ; myriads of figures and signs in 
stone ; a propylon of the grandest character, to 
which the Arch of Triumph, not to speak of Temple 
Bar, must yield — and its fellow in fragments. 
And Tentyris is a heap of rubbish — all that 
is left some heaps of brick and rubble ; and its 



216 TURKS AND BEES. [chap. 

courtier chiefs, wlio worshipped the divine Tiberius, 
son of god Augustus, have left but their monumental 
flatteries behind them. In addition to the sand 
and time, there have been two agencies at work 
to deface these magnificent temples. With, labour 
villanously laborious, the brutalized Mahometan 
has worked at the destruction of every face and 
likeness on the walls, too often successfully, and 
always leaving his indelible mark. Then myriads 
of rascally bees, which make no honey, but appear 
to be able to perforate solid stone, have constructed 
cities which look as hard as the very rock, on 
the outer w r alls of the Temple, covering over 
inscriptions and images with an armour which no 
one dare pierce. Professor Owen took rather an 
interest in them, but his researches were terminated 
by a disposition on their part to take an interest 
in him. It was the prettiest picture possible to 
see the Princess wandering about the ruins — to 
watch her tracing out the features, with the aid 
of a cane, of stony Cleopatra on the wall. 
What a contrast between our fair mistress and the 
Serpent of Old Nile ! For hours the party wan- 
dered here and there, and the hum of voices 
aroused up the bats and hawks in the recesses of 
the ruins. A fire was kindled, and the repast was 



tut:] COPTOS. 217 

spread in the shade of the portico ; and the 
chibouquejees appeared with diamond-studded pipes 
and jewelled coffee-cups, when lunch was over ; 
and we reposed for a time out of the heat, in 
the cool of the Temple. The thermometer marked 
73° even there. 

Then, after a grateful rest, the word was " To 
horse" (read donkey passim please), and returning 
to the steamers, sated w r ith the wonders of Tentyris, 
Prince and Princess and their following embarked, 
and were on their way towards Thebes ere the sun 
had sunk behind the solemn ruins. The flotilla 
passed the site of Coptos, destroyed by Diocletian. 
This was, says Sir Gardner Wilkinson, the mart of 
Indian commerce. There were once temples here, 
attributed to Thotmes and to kings of the eleventh 
dynasty. The early Christians pulled down these 
temples to build them a church. That church has 
now disappeared. 

Then darkness menaced our timid captains. The 
Soudan — Fezegoloo — for them if mishap comes to 
Prince or Princess ! So they draw up to the shore 
and make fast at no place in particular. There 
is a village some way off — Hamed says its name 
is El Arabat. The El Arabatites were rather as- 
tonished when the party landed from the steamers 



218 SHOOTING. [chap. vhi. 

and commenced a brisk fusillade against all volatile 
creatures till it was too dark to see. The Prince 
seems to be the best shot of the "societe," for 
no amount of loyalty will induce a man to go on 
missing for ever. In compliment to the genius 
loci of Tentj^ris, who had a great enmity to the 
sacred crocodile, eager search was made along the 
river banks for the interesting reptile, but he might 
as well have been looked for between Putney and 
Richmond. 



CHAPTER IX. 



HAMED. LUXOR. KARNAK. — -THE LEARNED LEPSIUS. 

NIGHT AT LUXOR. BAB-EL-MOLOOK. A NIGHT 

SURPRISE. 

" We shall be at Thebes in the morning ! " Our 
last word at night. And Hamed, who has just said 
his prayers in the moonlight— why I know not, for 
we thought three times a day was the proper and 
complete complement of devotion required of the 
most devout of Moslem — says, " Taybe a very nice 
place ; all old ruin about made by King Solomon, de 
say." I have forgotten to tell you who Hamed is, 
though he has been mentioned more than once. 
When the Duke was waiting at Cairo for Prince 
and Princess, he was assailed by people who wished 
to be engaged as dragoman for his party on the 
Nile. One, highly recommended, a Syrian gentleman 
in spectacles, very nearly established himself. He 
would leave remuneration to our noble selves. It 
would do when we all returned. Whatever we gave 
would be enough. But he was asked to preciser 



220 IIIPPOPOTA3IUS JOHNNY. [chap. 

himself, and to do it in writing. So he sent in an 
estimate. At first it was supposed he was under 
the idea that he was to provide food and drink for 
all the party, and he was told we were the Viceroy's 
guests, and that everything was paid for on board 
the steamer. But he held fast to his figures, and 
merely remarked that he " would like to pay de 
donkey boy very handsome — -just for the noble 
Duke sake." When he was derided and rejected, 
he came down some hundred per cent., but was still 
soaring high in regions of the impossible. Finally 
rejected, he did not despair of his prey, but came 
out on us in the form of an antiquarian — " De most 
lubly dings in Egypt. No one else hab them. Je 
vous jure, altesse ! Cleopadre's neglace ! I find her 
myself!" How he haunted our doorsteps and sat in 
our halls ! But one day Hamed turned up, and he 
was at once secured. Do you remember the stout, 
short, jolly person who waited on the hippopotami 
long ago in the Zoological Gardens, and who, from 
association with them, had become almost hippopo- 
tamic in expression — dark-skinned, dark-eyed, sleek, 
and round ? This was " Hippopotamus Johnny." 
He came to England with the first little river-horse 
— " all de same as my leetle child" — leaving his old 
mother somewhere up in Nubia, in the parts near 



ix.] THE DISCOVERY. 221 

Khartoum ; and lie has since been dragoman for " de 
long Desert caravan jerney." A devout man is 
Hamed, and very honest, I think, and very slow. He 
forgives even the hippopotamus all the wrong it did 
him. " When I go wid de leetle calf he boder me 
very troublesome. He go into him wash baat in 
ship ; den him come out all wet — smell about for 
Hamed, and roll me about wid him damp big nose. 
I get no sleep — so says captain, ' I make you 
sleep in hammick;' and he sling one in de house 
where me and de calf wor. De first night I get in 
de hammick when de calf in him water, and I hear 
him come back, and smell — smell — all over for me : 
round he go, and grunt, and grunt, and sniff. Then 
I laugh to myself. Not long I laugh ! Helo ! my 
face is grinded up agen de cabin top, and my eye 
flash de fire and my nose he bleed. De leetle rascal 
calf, he got up on him hind leg, and give me a 
great dig wid him big snout, and knock hammick 
and all agen de roof, and near kill me. I wor 
very fond of him, to be sure ! " And Hamed was 
engaged as dragoman, and found us more trouble- 
some, I fear, even than his fat friend. 

The whole party were awake early. We saw 
the Princess and Mrs. Grey were on the deck of 
their boat, and the Prince soon came up and joined 



222 LUXOR. [chap. 

them. But the river is not very interesting just 
here, for the valley is wide and low ; though, on our 
right the hills of the Desert rise abruptly to a con- 
siderable height over the plain in which lie perdu 
from us the Memnonium and the Colossi. On our 
left is Karnak, and there, beyond, is Luxor, to which 
we are tending — the Thebes in general of the tourist. 
Alas ! that one must speak or write of what we 
saw ! Words ! words ! words ! How that grandeur 
mocks you ! But here we are at Luxor. The 
flotilla arrived at 9 o'clock. 

It was intensely hot. The travellers' boats moored 
below the ruins were covered in with sun-shades. 
Nor did many of the English, Bussians, and 
Americans — whose nationality was indicated by 
standards flying — venture out to see the arrival of 
the Boyal party. But they kept up volleys of 
fowling-pieces from their boats in sign of welcome, 
and a small gun on shore gave deeper volume to 
the sound at irregular intervals. 

From the summit of the ancient Temple, in 
which Mustapha Aga, the British Consular agent, 
has his dwelling, floated the flags of the United 
States and of Great Britain, and the Austrian, 
French, and Bussian banners were displayed from 
various points, in company with the Ottoman 



ix.] MUSTAPIIA AGA. 223 

standard. The boats were hung with palm-branches, 
lemons, and oranges, and on the bank of the river 
the principal people of the place were assembled to 
receive the Eoyal party. By-and-by I shall try to 
say a word of Luxor itself, but now I must take 
the order of events as it came. 

Mustapha Aga — who, next to the ruins, is perhaps 
the best-known " object " about Thebes — went on 
board to pay his respects. His feelings during the 
Mason and Sliclell controversy must have been of 
a distracting character, for he is Consul for Great 
Britain and Consul for the United States, and hoists 
the flag of the one, and over his door is the 
escutcheon of the arms of the other. The Prince 
landed, and proceeded to his house to see the collec- 
tion of curiosities, and a wonderful mummy, which 
looks as fresh as if Mustapha Aga and his family 
had just given it the last coat of paint and gilding. 

I wish no harm to Mustapha, but I should like 
very much to pull his house down, not about his 
ears, but from between the ruins in which it stands. 
It is planted up there like a swallow's nest against 
the eave of a Greek temple. There was a haie of 
twenty or thirty Europeans between the river bank 
and Mustapha's porch, and a screen of reeds and 
festoons was erected outside for the little procession 



224 KARNAK. [chap. 

wliicli tlie Princess witli Mrs. Grey headed from the 
steamers. Pipes and coffee were of course brought 
in, when mummy and scarabseus had been examined ; 
and outside there was congregated a mass of donkey 
boys, and some good horses, led by syces. As we 
saw afterwards, there was a large gathering of natives 
not two hundred yards away — market-day at Luxor. 
But indolence, ignorance, or indifference — what you 
will — its influence was so great, not one ever stirred 
to inquire into the cause of the firings and general 
tomasha. 

About midday the Prince and Princess started 
for Karnak, magna comitante caterva. And a very 
pretty procession it was — the Princess on her milk- 
white ass, caparisoned in red velvet and gold, and 
the Prince on an animal of the same kind, of 
darker hue. The donkey is the favourite beast of 
the saddle. The horse is generally fidgety, head- 
tossing, much neighing, given to ground and lofty 
tumbling, which in a hot sun and on broiling sand 
is not conducive to comfort. There were Mrs. 
Grey, the Duke of Sutherland, Prince Louis of 
Battenberg, the Marquis of Stafford, Lord Albert 
Grower, Lord Carington, Colonel Marshall, Mr. 
Montagu, Professor Owen, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Sumner, 
Sir H. Pelly, Colonel Stanton, Sir S. Baker, Dr. 



ix.] THE PROCESSION. 225 

Minter, Major Alison, Mourad Pasha, Abd-el-Kader 
Bey, Ali Bisa, Mr. Brierly, Mr. George, and my- 
self, with a preceding and surrounding of chi- 
bouquejees, syces, guides, cavasses, dragomans — 
conspicuous among them the gorgeous Hadji Ali, 
Colonel Stanton's dragoman, and Hamed — a ga}>- 
crowd on horses and asses, cantering, in clouds of 
dust — all bright with fantastic dresses, turban ed, and 
loose-robed — in a long stream, over irrigated land 
and sandy desert ; now spreading out like a fan of 
many colours, again condensed in an undulating 
cord-like file over the plain. And so, chatting and 
laughing, out from Luxor to the waste where once 
trod many myriad feet — Mustapha Abd-el-Kader and 
Sir S. Baker wheeling and whirling, according to their 
skill, in the wild pleasures of jereed play, which, con- 
sidering that the sun was excessively powerful and 
burning, did not commend itself largely to our party. 
Our Italian and Prench domestics and the Turkish 
chibouqueaille always attend on these occasions, 
and the brawny sailors of the Ariadne career glori- 
ously on steed or ass, and emulate the hippodamic 
chibouquejees. And wherever the Prince goes the 
faithful Downie is sure to be ; nor is Peter Bobert- 
son far off, nor the guardian of the Prince's gun. 
Alister, of course, is ever with the Duke. We are 

Q 



2 .Of) KARNAK. [chap. 

going all wrong, of course. We should visit the ruins 
on the left bank of the Nile first, and finish with 
Luxor. I do not think it matters much. Certainly 
it did not affect any of the party around the Eoyal 
travellers, and never were more joyous, light-hearted 
people en route to Karnak. Some two hundred 
people, perhaps, all in full cry, and merry as the 
morn. And the solemn grandeur of the ruined 
Temples came on us at last ! 

Well ! It is in the idea of " what must have 
been " that much of the impression produced by 
these ruins is based. They are the only works of 
human hands I know of which produce the effect of 
awe. The immense antiquity of what we see affects 
us only in relation to that fact. Any stone at our 
feet is older by countless ages. But our fellow-men 
hewed these blocks and built them up, and drew 
those figures and cut those emblems in the nonage of 
the world. There is a god-like grandeur in the 
labours of these poor, nameless multitudes. Time 
has cast over them the shadow of eternity. What 
lies before us seems superhuman, but only because no 
human creature now can wield the power to which 
these owe their erection. "What this must have 
been ! " That is the thought which fills the breast 
with something like veneration as we walk down 



ix.] A VE TINE OF SPHINXES. 227 

what was once the Avenue of Sphinxes, now a rough 
broad path in the Desert sand, covered with stones, 
sand, fragments of slabs, flints, and lined formerly 
by a border of gigantic Sphinxes at short distances, 
of which not one remains complete. These Sphinxes 
had the heads of rams, the neck and busts of women, 
and the arms and claws of a lion. So much can be 
gathered from an inspection of the colossal fragments 
of the hundreds which cover the ground. They 
were sedulous destroyers who did so much work here. 
The avenue formed by these Sphinxes led to a gate- 
way or Pylon which is still erect, and rises to the 
height of 140 feet, its massive blocks recording that 
it is the work of Ptolemy Euergetes, and Berenice 
his wife, who are, according to our guide-book, re- 
presented making offerings to their predecessors and 
parents. Ptolemy is said to be shown somewhere 
in a Greek costume, but I could not make him out. 

The Royal party, in irregular procession, ap- 
proached the ruins by this Avenue of Sphinxes, 
which is at the south-west entrance, and passing 
through the Ptolemaic Pylon, made an examination 
of the sculptured stones, most of them dismounting 
and handing over the animals to the syces. Thence 
they proceeded down a second avenue of mutilated 
Sphinxes, by far older than the first, and passed 



228 ~R AMESES HIS TEMPLE. [chap. 

through a Pylon, 80 feet high, into a court, in which 
one perfect column alone remains to show how 
grand must have "been the stupendous rows of its 
fellows, the fragments of which are lying all around. 
It is said to he near 90 feet high, and the remains 
of twenty-five, of similar size, can he counted in 
this court, which helongs to a Temple built by 
Barneses III. and his successors, dating about 1200 
B.C. A Pharaoh who preceded Shishak, the contem- 
porary of Solomon, also had a hand in it. 

I clo freely avow how ignorant I am of the man- 
ner in which learned men work out their interpre- 
tations, but, I believe. I remember long ago being 
called on to accept it as a fact that the Latin word 
" svlva," a grove, was derived from the Greek iky, 
and I did so. But what is to be thought of a dis- 
pute concerning a hieroglyph which, if I understand 
aright, is translated by some as "Amyrtseus" and 
by others as " Nectanebo "? M. Marriette avers that 
if an inscription be sent to half a dozen eminent 
scholars, they will agree in rendering it as readily as 
if it were Greek or Latin, and with very slight dis- 
crepancies. And see ! there is Mr. Smith translating 
passages for the Princess as fast as he can talk — and 
that is pretty well. A thorough New Englander — 
somewhere from Boston, I guess — pattering away 



ix.] THE LEARNED LEPSIUS. 229 

about Eameses and Osiris. It is well for the Smiths 
that the Pharaohs are no more, for republican 
manners might have led to unpleasant results. The 
Prince and Princess were then conducted into the 
great roofless Hall of the Palace built, according to 
Lepsius, by Eameses II., the Pharaoh who lived in 
the time of Moses, and dating, according to that 
authority, 1380 years before Christ. 

The Lepsius in question is not the learned person 
mentioned by Mr. Shandy, who composed a work 
the day he was born, but he is a recent travelled and 
learned Grerman, rather unjustly attacked for outrages 
on the monuments of Egypt. Let all who visit 
Luxor ask to see his very amusing and instructive 
" Livre des Voyageurs." It begins with a hierogly- 
phic title-page, in which it is recorded, in characters 
taken from the monuments, with some modern adap- 
tations, how Lepsius came out to Egypt under the 
patronage of the King of Prussia. Then there is a 
very learned, and yet light dissertation, on Egyptian 
history and antiquities, and an expose of the pur- 
pose of the book, which is, that travellers may record 
observations in it — a very useful purpose — making in 
time the volume a valuable record. And the sugges- 
tion has been treated with marked neglect. Some 
recommend their dragoman ; others try to express, in 



230 THE GREAT HALL. [ CH ap. 

various languages, poetical inflations about Thebes 
and Karnak. One Britisher has discovered a curious 
cartouch, which he commends to Dr. Lepsius. It is 
copied in the book, and looks very like a " donkey 
eating thistles ! " 

To return to the Hall — the grandest work in the 
world. It stands in the centre of a court, 278 feet 
long by 329 broad, which is bordered by covered 
corridors, with a double row of columns in the centre 
leading to the Hall. There are advanced towers or 
propyla to this enclosure, and our guide-book states 
that the lintel- stones of the doorway want only two 
inches of 41 feet in length. The stones of the 
ceiling are of equal size, every one covered with 
sculptures or paintings. In the centre there are 
twelve columns of incomparable grandeur, 70 feet 
high, with plinth and abacus, and 33 J feet in 
circumference ; and in rows parallel to these are 
no less than 126 columns, 42J feet high and 28 
feet round, in seven rows of nine columns each. 
One column in this hall was presented in almost a 
miraculous condition. Shaken by an earthquake, or 
undermined by the overflow of the Nile, it had fallen 
against its neighbour, so that the entablature rested 
against the side, and thus the whole mass was upheld 
at an acute angle, although it is composed of a num- 



ix.] THE SANCTUARY. 231 

ber of great stones, which seem held together by 
magic. The doorways are stupendous. There are 
towers before each. 

Passing out of this court, we came upon two obe- 
lisks, one of which has been overthrown, and broken 
into several pieces, and then upon another court, with 
two obelisks, one in a similar condition, the other 
still erect, and measuring 94 feet in height. The 
party was now lost in labyrinths of ruin — enormous 
blocks of stone, broken columns, shattered pillars, 
granite, limestone, and sandstone, alike in pieces. 
The Sanctuary — a building of red granite, erected by 
a Pharaoh, destroyed by Cambyses, and rebuilt by 
Philip — the pillars and columns of a Temple erected 
by Thotmes III. — Alexander's Hawk — and ruins 
again fill up the remainder of the vast area, which is, 
measured, one and a half English miles. Persians 
and Greeks, Cambyses and Ptolemy, have done their 
worst, and man built up that man might destroy. 
The Nile aids time in completing the work. The 
base of the columns and pillars is covered with 
nitrous salts, left by the waters of inundation, and 
I scraped off some which burnt in paper like salt- 
petre. As to the sculptures on the walls, nothing but 
an immense series of photographs can give the least 
idea of them. War is the chief subject — the vie- 



232 EXPLORING. [chap. 

tories of Osiris. There is a bridge over the Nile to 
be remarked, but the works of peace are few. One 
compartment is interpreted as the representation of 
the conquests of Shishak, in his expedition against 
Jerusalem. In another place there are traces of early 
Christians, who selected the ruins as abiding refuges. 

The Prince and Princess explored recesses and 
chambers, and wandered about the ruins at will, the 
party breaking up into little knots of independent 
explorers. They had the advantage of being ac- 
companied by Mr. Smith, who had his own expla- 
nations to offer of the sculptures. The sun was 
very hot, and the thermometer stood at 104° inside 
the ruins — at least so a Celsius, which a philo- 
sophical lady brought with her, was made to read. 
But a shady place was found for lunch, in the 
vast colonnade of the Great Hall. Carpets were 
spread, and the resources of the providore were 
displayed in the feast, to which the Prince invited 
a Eussian officer — Count Gerbel — and his wife. The 
effect of the streaks of sunshine which fell through 
the rifted walls and colossal columns on groups of 
Egyptians, Arabs, Turks, Arnaouts, and guides, 
gathered about the horses and donkeys in the Great 
Hall, and on the various coated, booted, hatted, and 
knickerbockered Europeans, was very picturesque. 



ix.] BEST IN THE RUINS. 233 

The latter certainly must astonish the natives at 
times by their costumes. Peter Bobertson, the 
Highland piper, has invented a particularly inge- 
nious adaptation of his kilted attire to the latitude 
in which he is travelling. 

We not unwillingly rested in the grateful shade, 
whilst the servants laid out the banquet, which 
would have astonished even Barneses in all his glory. 
Then there were pipes and coffee and conversation, 
and a brief repose; and when every one was refreshed 
we proceeded in the Eoyal train to the southern 
gate of the open court, at the side of which is an 
inscription (said to be) concerning an eclipse of the 
sun ; visited the temple dedicated by Alexander to 
his father Philip ; thence, past the well which 
supplied the defenders of the fortifications, to the 
palace of Thotmes III., and to another court, 
in which lie many mutilated statues. 

Remounting, the Prince and Princess and their 
following returned to Luxor as they came, and 
went over the Temples, which are close to the Nile, 
and form part of the town. They carefully examined 
the monuments, in spite of the heat and dust. 

We were sated with ruin, and the works of Amu- 
noph and Eameses began to pall. But how stately 
and how vast they are ! What would it not be worth 

i 



234 RABIESES II. [chap. 

to behold, at one coup d'ceil, the surpassing grandeur 
of the scene which must have been presented here when 
the Temples and Palaces were perfect, and when from 
Luxor the priest-kings in all their glory proceeded 
along the sphinx-guarded avenues, right away to 
glorious Karnak, to celebrate feast, or rite, or victory ? 
Here are temples built by Amunoph III., 1450 b. c. 
— a mass of columns and sculptured stones — 
sanctuaries and chambers. They are plastered and 
bewattled to turn them into dwelling-places for the 
Arabs, and we disturbed families of goats, children 
and old women in their homes as we trod the halls of 
the Pharaohs. Hovels of the vilest, and huts of mud 
crowd the bases of the walls and pillars. There is 
another grand work — a Temple and gateway — with a 
facade 200 feet long and 60 feet high, on the side of 
which are sculptured the exploits of Eameses II. the 
Great, son of Sesostris. What are we to say of the 
Abyssinian Expedition, when we look at the records 
of this monarch's victories in Asia and India, in the 
fourteenth century before Christ? Two prodigious 
statues of red granite still guard the gateway, all de- 
faced and buried in sand and rubbish. One of the 
servants of the ship chipped off a piece of his nose 
as a souvenir ! The granite has yielded to time, 
and falls away in flakes at a slight touch. . 



ix.] THE OBELISK. 235 

Can nothing be done by the civilized nations of 
the world together to preserve Karnak and Luxor? 
All nations have a common interest in the preserva- 
tion of these magnificent monuments. They are in 
great danger. The Nile menaces them every year, 
and it would need very little to cause the fall of 
many a glorious pillar which a very little outlay could 
render safe. And as to man. He ruins what he 
cannot remove very often, and what he removes 
is placed in museums, which may be rifled and 
ransacked by conquest in time to come. 

At the Prince's desire, preparations were made to dig 
down to the base of the Great Obelisk, companion to 
that in the Place de la Concorde, which was presented 
to Great Britain. Mr. Smith stated, there were two 
gigantic asses at the base of the obelisk, but it was 
not found that they were in the place he indicated. 
It is vain to express a wish for the removal of what 
belongs to us, I suppose. The non-user of our right 
has led to doubts of its existence ; and Colonel Stan- 
ton had a sharp controversy with Mourad Pasha, who 
denied that the Obelisk belonged to us at all. 

It was 5 o'clock when we returned to the shade 
of the awnings of the steamers, and of all the party 
the Princess, who had seen most, seemed the least 
fatigued. At night the flotilla was illuminated, the 



236 NIGHT AT LUXOR. [chap. 

dahabeahs were hung with lanterns, and the river 
glittered with the reflection of hundreds of fires. 
Blue lights were burnt, and there was a rivalry 
between Woolwich and Egypt in the flights of 
rockets which flew hissing into the serene, bright- 
starred sky. The avenue of palm-branches and the 
facade of Mustapha's house were illuminated also, and 
blazing beacons bordered the bank of the river. 
Native boats floated down to the music of wild 
choruses, and vanished in the darkness. 

The day and night were equally worthy of 
remembrance. On board the Prince's ship there 
was a dinner of more than usual state, and Mr. 
Smith was invited to the Royal table, in addition 
to the Eussian Count and others. 

February 17th. — To-day was devoted to a visit to 
the " Valley of the Kings," on the left (or west) bank 
of the river, one of the most interesting excursions 
in the world. Sixty or seventy horses and donkeys 
were collected for the party, which was transported at 
10 o'clock to the other side, lower down the Nile. 
The news of the coming had gone abroad, and, in 
addition to the usual gathering of syces, servants, 
and retainers, there was an assemblage of natives, 
who seemed to have come out of the Desert. Crowds 
of Arab children, bovs and girls, kept up with us the 



ix.] THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 237 

whole way to the Valley, carrying pitchers of water, 
and others presented "antiques" for sale at all points 
of the route — timid persistent creatures, full of desire 
to please and to secure baksheesh. The kindness 
of the Prince and Princess to these little people on 
the way soon made them , favourites, and secured for 
them rather too much attention. His Royal High- 
ness has taken a fancy to a little soft-eyed, white- 
toothed lad, named Tousouf, who follows his donkey, 
and wants to take him to England. Yousouf is in 
great perplexity of mind on the subject. The long 
hot ride to the Valley terminated only that the ex- 
ploration of the Tombs of the Kings might begin ; 
and Prince and Princess dismounted in a blazing 
sun, and set to work under the guidance of Mr. 
Smith, who is in grand " concurrence " with Mus- 
tapha Aga. It was a very trying day. 

Deep into the earth the Prince and Princess dived, 
among* broken slabs and rough stones, examining the 
chambers of the dead, where painted records and 
engraved stones preserve the memory of the deeds of 
the departed tenants to those who can decipher them. 
Belzoni's tomb, Bruce's tomb, and two others were 
explored. The Princess bore the heat and the rough 
ascents and descents with indefatigable good-will and 
enterprise. 



238 a GENUINE ANTIQUE. [chap. 

This was a day of lamentation for me. Some 
way or other, the note-book I had been sedulously 
filling all the way dropped out of my pocket in 
clambering about the tombs. When the loss was 
made known, although a great reward was offered 
to the finder, the knowing ones shook their heads. 
Colonel Stanton, and Mr. Smith, and Mustapha 
Ali Eisa agreed that the chances were much 
against me. The reason was this, — "If an Arab 
found it, he would keep it and hide it, lest he 
should be accused of stealing it!" What a 
commentary on the treatment of the people ! 
They have no faith in the European, because he 
is of the race, they think, which governs them, 
and thus they act so as to deserve their old 
traditional character, and cause every man's hand 
to be against them. " Years hence," said Ali 
Eisa, and with him agreed all the dragomanry, 
" that pocket-book will be offered to some traveller 
as an antica found in the Tombs, and then the 
Arab will be horrified at getting a kick, or a 
stick, or being laughed at for his pains." And 
they were right. The sum I offered set every 
one pretending to look for the book, but no one 
found it. An Arab must have pounced on it at 
once, as it fell. 



ix,] BAB-EL-MOLOOK. 239 

One sees too much in a day to remember all 
distinctly. The head becomes filled with pylons 
and propylons, sphinxes, columns, obelisks, hiero- 
glyphs, as confused and broken up and jumbled 
as are the things themselves which have left the 
impressions. But I recollect well enough that it 
seemed the most interesting sight possible to watch 
the young travellers, on whose future there are such 
vast interests depending, moving about among the 
poor Arabs in the gloom of these terrible 
mortuary chambers, and trying to decipher the 
records left thousands of years ago of their lives 
and exploits by other Royal personages, on the 
walls. Bab-el-Molook is a wonderful place indeed. 
Desolate, exceedingly ; an arid valley of stone, 
rock, and mountain, burnt by the sun, without 
tree, or blade of grass, or green thing. Such it 
could not have been when the kings of Thebes 
chose it as the site of the subterranean City of 
the Dead; for the approaches, at least, were like 
the barren plain on which the Memnonium and 
the Colossi are placed • then, doubtless, cultivated 
— covered with trees and residences. 

It would be wrong to say no living thing is to 
be found in this valley. The rocks swarm with 
scorpions, many of which were captured and bottled 



240 osmrs bed. [chap. 

off. "What form of insect life the horrors feed upon 
I cannot say. These, and a few outcast sand-martens 
flitting about at the entrance to the Yalley, were all 
I could see outside the Tombs. Inside there were 
bats, which shows that there must be insects about 
at night; and once, as Alison and I were groping 
down the shaft-like entrance to one of the tomb 
galleries, candle in hand, something dark flew with a 
clatter over the loose stones and vanished — jackal, fox, 
or hyena. Deep in the solid rock, more than 3,200 
years ago, Osiri, father of Sesostris, prepared the 
home for the alabaster sarcophagus in which his 
mummy was to rest; now, I think, installed in the 
British Museum. Belzoni, the fame of whose tre- 
mendous size and strength still lives among the 
Arab guides, was the modern discoverer of this 
gallery, which now bears his name. It is 180 feet 
below the surface, and to get at it you must first 
descend a rough flight of broken steps cut in the 
rock some thirty feet, which takes you to the first 
landing from the top, and then go down a similar 
flight which conducts you to the ground floor. 
Here there is a passage which 1 eads to a square 
chamber — a sham — for the kernel of the nut lay 
inside. Belzoni was not deceived, for he burst 
through the wall, came upon a chamber with pillars, 



ix.] BRUCE' S TOMB, 241 

descended from it to a chamber with two pillars, 
went along two passages, entered another chamber, 
found one still further on, and at last found himself 
where we were standing, in a vaulted room, 20 feet 
long and 30 feet wide, in which lay the plundered 
sarcophagus described then as lying at the mouth 
of a shaft cut at a slope into the rock for 150 feet, 
with a flight of steps at either side. Amid these 
chambers are smaller rooms and recesses in the 
rock. We were now 320 feet from the entrance, and 
there was, it may fairly be said, not a foot of the 
walls or ceilings in all that course of gallery or 
chamber which was not covered with paintings or 
hieroglyphs on a sort of smooth plastered surface. 
To give an account of these would be to write a 
book, and a large one, which after all would be but a 
dry catalogue, "Brace's Tomb," as it is called, which 
was prepared by Hameses III. for himself and friends, 
is 405 feet long, and the walls are a perfect history 
and record of life in Egypt. These kings afforded 
constant employment to their subjects, though I 
suspect it was not highly remunerated • and they cer- 
tainly must have been a trouble to their neighbours. 
For centuries the Tombs have been visited by the 
curious, and it is much to be regretted that instead of 
recording their feelings about the objects they visited, 

R 



242 EPIPHANTS NIL ADMIRARI. [chap. 

they did not tell us something about the people of 
the time in the land in which they were travelling. 
Thus we might have learned how the Egyptians 
fared, and how they became what they are. Possibly 
one of these visitors expressed the sentiments 
towards the close of the day of some of our own 
party. As Sir Gardner Wilkinson records, he wrote 
as follows, in Tomb No. 9 — that of Barneses V. : 
'^TTifyavios laroprjaa ovSev Be €0av/iaaa rj firj rov \l0ov, 
" Epiphanius saw nothing wonderful but the stone. 5 ' 
Mr. Epiphany has a large sect of philosophers of 
his sort at the present time. The other tomb we 
inspected was that of Pthamen-se-pthah. To visit 
all would need a week; and there are more than 
twenty of these tombs, if historians be correct, 
which remain unopened to this day. 

Her Eoyal Highness astonished the party by 
indomitable spirit and resolution, in the full blaze 
of an Egyptian sun, and by capacity to endure 
fatigue. Those who looked far more able to go 
through a long day's work, exploring mummy-caves, 
and investigating dark catacombs, admitted the 
Princess was much stronger. Her interest in what 
she saw, and the delight which she manifested, 
animated the Eoyal party. 

The illumination of the Tombs by magnesium 



ix.] THE WITCHING HOUR. 243 

wire torches produced the most beautiful effects, 
though they were transient. One disagreeable result 
was the excitement produced in the bat-world, the 
citizens of which came swarming from dark corners 
about the ears of the Eoyal party. Candles were 
far more useful, as they enabled individuals to study 
details at their leisure. At last we emerged finally 
into the open day. And, lo ! there was a tent 
pitched at the mouth of a tomb ; and there was a 
strange sound heard outside, where the French 
domestics of the Viceroy and the Prince's men are 
preparing the feast. It was the churning of the 
machine for making ice. The Turks were busy 
making coffee. Hampers were unpacked, and camels 
eased of their loads, and the Yalley of the Tombs 
of the Kings resounded with voices. Lunch was 
laid in the shade of the entrance to a tomb, No. 9, 
Barneses within not objecting. Indeed, judging 
from the subjects depicted on the walls of the cata- 
comb, it would seem that the Pharaoh of 3,000 years 
ago was not indifferent to creature comforts, though 
soda-water and ice-making machines and French 
wines were not known to him. 

The sun had lost some of its power when we 
started to return, but the heat in the Yalley was 
excessive ; and one wondered if it were true that 

u 2 



'244 THE RETURN. [chap. 

Ibrahim Pasha led an army up through it on an 
expedition against some Arab troublesomes. It was 
even averred that a part of our Indian force pro- 
ceeded some way in the uninviting road when they 
were in Egypt. Several of the gentlemen took the 
short way over the mountain crags at the side on 
foot, with Arab guides, and from the account they 
gave of the view of the Nile valley, and of Luxor on 
the opposite bank, and of the plain below, I was 
sorry I did not follow their example. It is a short 
cut to the river, which we reached and crossed half 
an hour ere sunset. The evening was so warm and 
calm that the Prince, with Lord Carington, Mr. 
Montagu, and Lord Stafford, took a boat across and 
bathed at the other side. Mustapha Aga gave a 
dance, which the Prince and suite and the Duke of 
Sutherland's friends attended ; but the performance 
was not remarkable, and only one of the women, and 
she neither young nor good-looking, seemed inspired 
with the spirit of the ancient mystic dance of Egypt. 
They were all animated, however, by the modern 
Egyptian spirit as to baksheesh. 

February 18th. — The two parties started early 
in boats across the river, and, taking horses and 
donkeys at the other side, rode to the end of the 
Assaseef, and to Deayr Bachree, where they examined 



ix. ] MUMMY PITS. 245 

the beautiful frescoes, passing through and by nume- 
rous mummy catacombs, with the bodies and bone.-> 
lying exposed in all directions. When I say that 
the Eoyal party to-day visited the ruins at Assaseef, 
Koorneoh, Medeenet Haboo, Dayr-el-Medeeneh, and 
the Memnonium, returning by the two Colossi and 
the Vocal Memnon, those who are acquainted with 
the ruins will admit that it was good work, performed 
as it was in a sun only little less scorching than that 
of yesterday. One of the least agreeable incidents 
of our wanderings to-day, was the visit to the 
mummy pits ; or rather the evidences of destruction 
and disregard for the dead which lay around us 
on every side. The contents of the pits have been 
dragged out, and skulls, with the hair still clinging 
to the waxed cloth, legs, arms, jaws, ribs, were 
scattered over acres of rock. Sometimes there was a 
sickening odour, as though a slow decomposition 
was still going on in the remains laid to rest thou- 
sands of years ago. The Arab children offered us 
mummies of the Ibis and Scarabsei, objects taken 
from the Tombs, and now and then pieces of bone 
or earthen vessels full of parched corn. 

It is impossible to convey an idea of them ; but 
every well-educated person has a conception of what 
most of these ruins are like. Who has not seen the 



246 THE DECAY OF RUINS. [chap. 

Colossi and the Memnonium in sketch or engraving ? 
Whole hooks, very large and very learned, have heen 
devoted to the Thehaid and its remains ; and for 
many centuries in the old days of the ancient world, 
ere the black night of barbarism put out the lamp of 
learning, then nickering and feeble — for long genera- 
tions, and ever since travel was practicable in the pre- 
sent ages of the world, the antiquarian and illuminati 
had visited, to theorize, to wonder,, and sometimes to 
despoil. Stolid utilitarians regard these awful ruins 
as evidences of the ignorance of those who reared the 
records of their vanity and their faith, which have 
defied the rage of man, and the tooth of time, and 
the strife of the elemental forces — they are all so 
many illustrations of "unproductive labour," ex- 
hausting capital and devouring a nation's strength. 
Others measure the stones and calculate the weight 
of the blocks, and start notions respecting the means 
by which they were transported. Some are content 
to see. admire, and deplore. The only way to get a 
full idea of these remains is to live among them for 
weeks, to pitch a tent and reside on the spot day 
after day, with a few chosen companions, and to 
explore at leisure site after site. 

It is a thousand pities that in all the modern 
world, with its wealth and resources, no organization 



ix.] PHARAOH NOW AND THEN. 247 

can be formed to clear away and explore the ruins, 
guard and preserve what is left, and investigate what 
yet remains hid. The Viceroy is animated with the 
best spirit. But he has to deal with the living and 
not with the dead. He has to regenerate and resus- 
citate Modern Egypt. True there are guardians now 
to the Temples, but they are ignorant and accessible 
to influences. It is a vain hope that some united 
action of the European Powers, in the interests of 
history, may be brought to bear on Egypt. No one 
who is acquainted with what has yet been done, can 
hesitate to admit that enormous results might yet 
be achieved in clearing away the clouds which hang 
over the history of early civilization, by systematic 
application of subsidized investigation. 

I was very much struck, on my return to Cairo, by 
the appearance of certain emissaries from the Prince 
of Tigre in Abyssinia, who had come to the Viceroy 
with presents. In one of the catacombs of Koornet 
there is a representation of black officers, said to be 
of Cush or Ethiopia, offering gold rings, fans, and 
cattle to Ammon Thun, a stranger king, who is iden- 
tified with Amunoph III. The men who came to the 
Pharaoh of 1869 were like the ambassadors of the 
land of Cush in face and dress, and they offered to 
him gold rings and fans and ivory ! 



248 A NIGHT SURPRISE. [chap. 

We got back to the steamer at 5.30 p.m. Abd el 
Sultan Bey, Inspector General of the Upper Province, 
joined the party on board the Eoyal steamer, and 
in the evening there took place the great event 
which marked the visit to Thebes. After dinner 
the Prince and Princess and party landed, and, at- 
tended by a great crowd with lanterns and torches, 
set ont on donkeys and horses for the ruins of the 
Temples of Karnak. The moon was only a few 
days old, but still capable of casting strong shadow, 
marking the outlines of the mounds of deserted 
towns which lie outside Luxor. The more enter- 
prising spirits dashed on ahead, and woke up the 
night owls with imitations, for the most part rather 
meritorious, of native war-cries. At last, the dim 
outlines of the Great Euin commanded silence. 
Cantering on down the Avenue of Sphinxes, the 
horsemen plunged into darkness, among the columns 
of the Temple. Dim shapes became visible, and 
presently a voice sang out, " This isn't the way 
in. Put your head about, if you please." Colonel 
Stanton, Sir S. Baker, with the men of the Ariadne, 
and a band of Egyptian sailors, were before us, 
preparing a surprise for the Princess. The horse- 
men turned and headed back the Eoyal procession, 
which, seen afar over the plain, seemed like a 



ix.] THE ILLUMINATIONS. 249 

street full of lights taking a walk by itself, lamps 
and all. They all turned down the Avenue ot 
Sphinxes, and the peasants in the village skirted 
on their way must have felt a strange fear as they 
heard the tramp of many feet, and saw the torch- 
light which flashed through the chinks of their 
humble dwellings. The party, dismounting outside 
the Euins, entered the solemn pile, and were left 
to the light of the pale moon and of the watchful 
stars which had so looked down on the priest- 
kings — the Pharaohs — who built it thirty centuries 
ago. Suddenly there came on us a blinding gleam 
of intense whiteness from a recess in the ruin. 
It grew in splendour and in power. The towering 
columns of the portico, the plinths and obelisks, 
grandiose blocks of carved stone, with all their 
strange language in bird and beast, emblems, 
secret histories, were revealed as if the sun had 
burst on us out of the wall of hewn rock. What 
a mass of pale faces there, shimmering ghostlike, 
screening their eyes from the dazzling wonder ! 
What a hum of voices, swelling into a chorus of 
admiration ! As the Prince and Princess slowly 
made their way up to the colonnade, the brilliant 
wire, from column to column, casting the blackest 
shadows, threw its rays like fixed lightning. They 



250 THE HALLS OF DAZZLING LIGHT. [chap. 

reached the end of the Great Hall. Then blue, red, 
and green lights burned, and blazing torches, from 
broken pillar and heaped-up ruins, were held by men, 
motionless as statues. Colonel Stanton and Sir S. 
Baker, and other aspiring persons, magnesium wire 
in hand, were visible perched up on various " coigns 
of Vantage." Then flew rockets on high, crossing 
the Obelisks in their flight, and throwing down on 
broken towers and walls showers of many-coloured 
stars. For a time, when this died out, the Temple 
was left to darkness. But once more, when the 
party turned into another of the Great Halls, the 
illumination was renewed. "No idea can be given 
of the effect of the whole device. The Prince and 
Princess, accustomed to displays of pyroteconic art, 
expressed as much pleasure as the other spectators. 
The moon was at last left to assert its mild supre- 
macy. Seats were placed and carpets spread in 
one of the Great Halls. We sat there for nearly 
an hour, amid the twinkle of many small lights, 
till the Prince and Princess set out to return to the 
ships. Mrs. Grey mounted a ship of the Desert, 
and enjoyed a ride on a dromedary ; and the 
Princess, amid a crowd of syces with lanterns, went 
full canter on her white donkey, at a pace which 
began to tell on her suite at the last half mile. 



ix.] THE RETURN TO THE SHIP. 251 

Her Boyal Highness was so charmed with her ride, 
that she went hack to pick up the part of the 
cortege in which the Prince was coming at his 
leisure ; and when they arrived at Luxor, they 
were greeted with ringing cheers, as if to testify 
the general satisfaction at the brilliant and curious 
spectacle just witnessed. 



CHAPTEE X. 



LEAVE THEBES. ESNE. EDFOU. ASSOUAN. PHIL.E. 

February 19th.— The fleet left Luxor at 5.30, 
iu the light of a lovely dawn. Professor Owen 
and Mr. Fowler parted company * for England last 
night. It is almost a comfort to hear that the 
ruins of Erment, which we pass presently, are very 
ruinous indeed. The temple built by Cleopatra, 
who is represented on the wall, of the chambers, 
which are all that now remain, has been so much 
dilapidated that one of our party who visited 
it, said " it was only little wine cellars, all over 
hieroglyphics/' In a rapid visit, limited in lateral 
excursions, it is impossible to do justice to Egypt, 
i.e., to oneself. It is gratifying to find that even 
Sir Gardner Wilkinson was not able to visit all 
the places which tradition or ancient remains render 
worthy of inspection. The fleet arrived at Esne at 
12 o'clock. Excellent Mudir of Esne ! How great are 



chap, x.] THE CITIZENS. 253 

the uncertainties of life ! The preparations made to 
do honour to the Prince and Princess by this worthy 
Governor deserved a better fate than a hasty visit, 
while the steamers were coaling and taking in pro- 
visions. 

Esne was swept, garnished, and whitewashed. 
There was a landing-place, with steps, cut from the 
river in the soft earth, to an avenue of palm-tree 
branches, decorated with standards which scarcely 
new out in the faint breeze. There was a haie 
formed from the end of this shady lane by much 
be-pistolled Arnaouts and be - scimitared cavasses 
to the esplanade, where, in grave ordered line, 
stood the white-turbaned sheiks and the masses of 
the people in their blue robes, who had strayed 
beyond the reach of the muezzin's voice to see the 
Eoyal guests of the Yiceroy. Not so much as a 
." hush" broke the silence. A better regulated crowd, 
in treble line of well-dressed " citizens," could not 
well be met in Europe on a similar occasion. Behind 
this line of turbaned heads rose the irregular outlines 
of the town, with a background of mosque domes, 
minarets, and date palms. There was a clear space 
of three or four yards spontaneously kept between 
the spectators and the banks of the Nile. The 
Mudir and his officials were in readiness at the end 



254 THE TEMPLE. [chap. 

of the platform ; but, on the receipt of a message 
from the yacht, they returned to the Governor's 
house and awaited the Prince's coming in the 
porch. 

I recommend travellers not to neglect paying a 
visit to the beautiful Temple at Esne, which is 
worthy of far more notice than Murray gives to it in 
his admirable Handbook. The wonderful " efflores- 
cence " of the work may, indeed, indicate the advent 
of the period of decay which came upon Egyptian 
art and architecture when the Caesars established 
their rule in the land, but the richness of the 
decoration of the vast columns, and the compara- 
tively perfect condition of the remains of this 
gorgeous Temple of Knuph, entitle it to special 
attention. 

We left Esne soon after 1 o'clock, and main- 
tained a fair speed against the stream. At 4.30 
we passed El Kab, where in old times Lucina was 
worshipped. The Viceroy would not be at all dis- 
pleased if there were more frequent invocations 
to the goddess now-a-days, for the population is 
not increasing, and the great want of the country 
is people. 

Every care was taken to mark our course by flags 
on the sand-banks, and poles and date branches 



ix.] LEAVE esn£. 255 

in the shallows ; the Muclir had men on the look- 
out for crocodiles, and did all he could to pro- 
mote the success of the voyage. But there were 




doubts and head- shakings in the land as men 
looked on the Nile and thought of the great 
steamers, which would have to find then way back. 



256 ABABDEH ARABS, [chap/ 

The heat (7S°) was rather trying in the cabins, but 
on deck, under the awning, it was still fresh. 

At dusk we reached Edfou, sixty-two miles above 
Thebes. Here a party of Ababdeh Arabs, woolly- 
headed savages, performed a sort of war-dance, and 
gave an exhibition of sword-play, which was gro- 
tesque and ludicrous rather than inspiring or interest- 
ing. They embellished it with shrieks and howls 
like those which, according to poor Aytoun, accom- 
panied the assault of the chief of the clan McTavish 
on the gallant and lamented Pherson. Hopping on 
one leg, cutting with a claymore at the adversaries' 
enormous shield, with crouching to the ground, or 
leaping in galvanic jumps, was also a feature in this 
exhibition, for all of which baksheesh was expected. 

The woodcut on the preceding page will give a 
good idea of the Ababdehs. 

This evening there occurred the only contretemps 
— a slight one — of the journey. Shortly before 
10 o'clock the Prince of Wales, who was on board 
the steamer, on deck, observed a light reflected on 
the side of the dahabeah alongside. He at once 
gave an alarm. The Princess of Wales and Mrs. 
Grey were hurried on shore, but the fire was 
speedily extinguished. The Duke of Sutherland, 
seizing up a rug, dashed into the cabin, whence the 



x.] TEMPLE OF EDFOU. 257 

flames were issuing, and, assisted almost immedi- 
ately by the Prince and others, beat them down. A 
lighted candle in Prince Louis of Battenberg's cabin 
had caught one of the curtains. The boat, with all 
its muslin and wooden panels and paint,, scorched by 
an Egyptian sun, not to speak of cartridges and 
powder in cases, would have been consumed in a few 
minutes, and the explosion might have inflicted con- 
siderable damage^ and delayed the expedition, had not 
the quick eye of the Prince discovered the danger. 

February 20th. — (Edfou.) The party landed at 
10.30 a.m. and rode over sand and dusty roads to 
the Temple, about a mile and a quarter distant. The 
Temple, thanks to M. Marriette, is cleared out, and, 
thanks to the rubbish which so long saved it from 
the destroyer, is in a fair state of preservation. But 
the work of destruction is now going on. It is 
almost incredible that men can take delight in 
chipping away the faces and emblems of the 
magnificent work we saw to-day; but those among 
us who visited the Temple last year, pointed out 
the marks of chisels or stones on the hieroglyphs 
and figures which would, if uninjured, make each 
massive block an historical record, and render the 
Temple a vast volume of knowledge. 

Couches and seats were placed in the shade of 

s 



258 HARD AGROUND. [chap. 

the Central Hall, and after the Prince and Princess 
had walked through the building, and examined the 
emblems which embellish every inch of the walls, 
they rested, and the gentlemen had coffee and pipes. 
The Eoyal party returned through the neat, well- 
swept, crooked-streeted town. The quiet population 
hung carpets out of the windows to do them 
honour, and offered curious studies almost from the 
nude in real life. At 12.30 the steam - whistle 
sounded, the mooring stakes were lifted, and the 
flotilla proceeded on its way in all the glory of a 
July sun. " What will they say in England " — 
the farmers at any rate — when they hear that 
the corn is laden with creamy ears, which will be 
cut in less than two months, stacked, and garnered, 
and that before the Nile rises in June, another crop 
— one of maize — will be lifted from the ground ? 

All went well with us till we came near the 
Quarries of Silsilis, about 4.15 o'clock. There the 
surface of the stream gave token of the coming 
trouble. Soon the Eoyal yacht stuck hard and 
fast. In courtier-like sequence, boat after boat went 
soft aground. There was a great deal of " Turn 
a heady," " Stope," " Fully speed," " Halfey speed." 
Eed-fezzed captains danced about emphatically on 
the paddle-boxes, and much strong Arabic went 



x.] OUR ROYAL DINNER. 259 

abroad ; but the Nile bed would not move, nor 
would the ships. The Prince and Princess and all 
the company landed on an island sand-bank, as the 
sun set behind the Desert ridge. The sailors set 
to work to lighten the vessels by carrying the bag- 
gage on shore. It needed an hour's hard work and 
more — blowing off the water from the boiler, shift- 
ing cargo — to float the steamer. When the vessel 
forged ahead, there was a general cheer from all 
hands. It was near 10 o'clock at night before the 
ships were off the bank, and secured to the 
mooring-place above Silsilis. The Prince and Prin- 
cess, Mrs. Grey, Lord Carington, Sir S. Baker, 
Prince Louis of Battenberg, came to dinner on 
board the Duke of Sutherland's steamer. The 
banquet was prepared with great gusto by the 
Italian stewards. The Spanish cook gave his most 
strenuous efforts to the task, and a masterpiece 
of confectionery in burnt almonds, with a flag on 
the top inscribed with " Ich Dien," crowned his 
triumph. The wind blew strongly, unfortunately, 
for the table was laid on the upper deck, and 
the candles flared in spite of the awning, and of 
artful contrivances of canvas at the sides. It was 
the birthday of one of the little Princesses, and 
the Duke proposed her health in a neat speech, 

s 2 



260 OVIS A MM ON, [chap 

and clue honour was done to the toast. After 
dinner, a huge long-legged black sheep, with an 
enormous pendulous tail, which on the morrow 
would have been converted into mutton, in a happy 
moment of inspiration strayed on deck in the way 
of Lord Stafford, who brought it aft and introduced 
it to the notice of the Princess. As if it had been 
accustomed to the best society all its life, the creature, 
with a tact worthy of a ram-headed " Gentleman in 
waiting " of the time of the Pharaohs, immediately 
made itself at home, ate from the Princess's hand, 
and rose at once to such a height of favour at Court, 
that its life was spared, by Eoyal command, and 
the creature is destined to grow fat and be glad in 
the pastures of Sandringham. It was decked with, 
a garland of riband when its good future was 
known, and received many marks of attention in 
the shape of cabbages and the like from the crew. 
And now it is " Pier Eoyal Highness's Sheep." 

February 21st. — At dawn the flotilla was on its 
way before the cares of the day had summoned the 
party to arise. The Nile is so pent in here by the 
Desert, that the belt of cultivated land can be seen 
with the naked eye right across on each side ; in parts 
it does not seem to be three miles over. Our great ex- 
citement was running aground and getting off again 



x.] ASSOUAN. 261 

all day, but there is a permanent, never-failing plea- 
sure in the consciousness of being alive in such a 
climate. Pyramids and ruins have denied before 
us like a panorama, on which we gazed with a 
dreamy blissful tranquillity. Nil admirari can be 
best understood in Egypt, where there is more 
to wonder at than in any land of the earth. Still 
it is getting hot — very hot. There is no denying 
it ; and it will have been seen, too, that our weather 
was not always to be enjoyed. 

At 11 o'clock the Prince read prayers in the saloon. 
Shortly before 1 o'clock to-day the Eoyal flotilla 
arrived at Assouan, 581 miles south of Cairo. The 
reception was very pretty. A considerable number 
of dahabeahs were moored by the left bank, 
on which the town is situated, and the owners 
kept up a brisk fusillade in honour of the 
occasion, and displayed all their bunting — 
British, French, and American. At the landing- 
place there was a stage with coloured lanterns, 
lighted up at dusk, and on the flat sandy beach 
left by the receding river, was stretched out an 
array of caparisoned dromedaries, with horses and 
saddled asses, which with their attendants — a crowd 
of armed Arnaouts and cavasses — formed an ani- 
mated foreground to the picture, enclosed by the 



262 THE RECEPTION. [chap. 

fringe of date-palms, and the rocky ridge of the 
Desert range beyond. A group of Arabs armed 
with shields and long swords, whose hair was 
dressed in a fashion that would set the whole 
craft of London and Paris at defiance, went through 
their exercises, and from a distance was heard the 
long wailing cry of welcome which greeted the 
passage of the flotilla from all the villages on the 
banks as we approached Assouan. An Egyptian 
officer in full uniform — French infantry in all but 
the fez and sleeve lace — the Mudir, and principal 
people of the district, were in waiting ; but the day 
was hot, and it was arranged that the visit to Philse, 
above the First Cataract, should be deferred till to- 
morrow, time being needed to transfer the baggage 
and stores to the smaller vessels above. Sir S. Baker 
refreshed himself and revived memories of former 
travel by a lively tournee or two on a fast drome- 
dary, but did not induce many of the suite to em- 
bark on the ships of the Desert. The Prince and 
Princess, however, made a short excursion on them, 
and paid a visit to the village, which is interesting 
to those who care to see where Syene once was. 

The news of a little tragedy reached us on shore. 
At Edfou we had been told that an Englishman had 
shot himself on board his boat, and had been buried 



x.] A TRAGEDY ON THE NILE. 263 

in the Coptic Church. It was not an Englishman, 
however, but a young Hungarian noble, Count 
Christophe Almasy. There was only one European 
on board with him when the accident occurred, an 
Hungarian, whom he picked up at Assouan, and 
he avers that the dying man's last words were, 
" It was my own fault." He discharged his dra- 
goman at Assouan five days before. The latter 
says that the deceased was very careless with his 
firearms. Then there are rumours — an actress of 
Vienna or Pesth ; but the poor lad lies at rest in 
a strange land. He was found lying dead in his 
cabin, shot through the body below the breast, 
and the direction of the ball in a straight line, 
and the situation of the wound, afforded grounds 
for suspicion that other hands than his held the 
fatal weapon. So dragoman and crew are on their 
way to Cairo in irons, to await inquiry. 

If Juvenal had spent years composed of such 
days as these, he could, perhaps, have borne his 
banishment when he thought of ssevae incendia 
urbis and the poetse recit antes in mense Augusto. 
But what could he have done in inundation times, 
or in the terrible months from June to the end of 
September, when the earth is all water and the sky 
all fire ? To some of us Assouan was a spot scarcely 



264 THE IMPENDING SEPARATION. [chap. 

less unwelcome than it must have been to the 
banished satirist. The Prince and Princess were 
good enough to express a wish that the Duke 
and his party should go on with them to the 
Second Cataract, but the difficulties — want of boats, 
of time, and deficiency of towing power — were not 
to be overcome ; and it was with great regret we 
felt that the desire of our hearts could not be grati- 
fied. Many were the councils and the suggestions 
which were held over the matter. Her Eoyal High- 
ness would not hear of any obstacle, and announced, 
" That it is decided — you are to come on with us." 
But, alas ! there was the First Cataract — noisy, and 
ungentle, and resolute — above us. Our progress 
from Thebes to Assouan, interrupted though it 
had been by sand-banks, was delightful ; but the 
description of a river flowing through a strip of 
cultivated land, which is bounded on both sides 
by ridges of limestone mountains, and is inha- 
bited by the same sort of people, for ever engaged 
in the same work, and living in villages as like 
each other as two peas, is not apt to prove very 
attractive to general readers, even though a Prince 
and Princess be en voyage. One date-palm is like 
another, each water-wheel is very much the same as 
its neighbour, and the shadoofs vary only in the 



x.] RIVER SCENES. 265 

number of lifts and of the men who work them ; 
and as to the men — well, unless we go very 
close, they are all uncommonly similar in hue and 
dress, or want of it, though their rich brown is 
now and then diversified by the intense blackness 
of the Nubian's epidermis. The halt at sundown, 
which allowed every one to go on shore — L e., the 
next field on the bank — was looked for with plea- 
sure, the crowning joy of the day — if it be not 
a bull to say so — being the soft cool hours when 
the stars twinkled and the moon shone aloft. 
Then we were invited to the hospitable saloon of 
the Royal yacht, where a gracious welcome awaited 
us, and a durbar was held till it was time to walk 
the plank, and seek each one his ship by the blazing 
torchlights, and sink to sleep, unmolested of mos- 
quito, or nightly depredator. But if any one could 
have been transported to a reach of the grand old 
stream, and could have seen the Eoyal flotilla, he 
would have beheld a spectacle of no ordinary in- 
terest. The procession of steamers winding in and 
out, ribandwise, and twining along the bends in the 
river, with the sun flashing from the white sides and 
gilt mouldings of the ships, and reflected back from 
the burnished garniture of the saloons, was one of 
the prettiest sights possible. The Prince might be 



266 THE START FOR PHILjE. [chap. 

seen standing beneath the awning, on the look-out 
for birds, with rifle and smooth-bore near at hand, 
his suite reading or lounging in the easy chairs on 
deck, and further aft, in a kind of boudoir, all bright 
with mirrors and golden-backed fauteuils and sofas, 
one could catch a glimpse of two ladies engaged in 
reading or sketching. And now all was to end ! 

February 22nd. — A day of small misadventures 
for Prince and Princess, and of sorrow pour nous 
autres. The Nile above Assouan breaks into several 
streams and meanders through rocky barren islands. 
It was arranged that Her Eoyal Highness should 
proceed by water to the foot of the First Cata- 
ract, three miles above Assouan, where donkeys 
were to be in waiting in charge of Abd-el-Kader, 
while the Prince went to pay a visit to Lady Duff 
Gordon, whose dahabeah lay a couple of miles above 
us. The Princess, attended by the Duke of Suther- 
land, the Hon. Mrs. Grey, Dr. Minter, Lord Caring- 
ton, Captain Ellis, and Colonel Marshall, started 
in a heavy native boat, took a wrong branch of 
the river, and came to a bank of loose deep sand, 
on a bed of craggy rocks, under a glaring sun. 
The Prince, after paying his visit, proceeded to 
another point below the Cataract, and landed on 
a place exactly similar, some miles away. Abd-el- 



x.] A TRYING POSITION. 267 

Kader, who had posted far-seeing Arabs on the rocks, 
was in despair at the news that the Princess's 
boat was ascending the wrong channel. He dashed 
round with his corps of donkey-boys, to meet the 
Princess at the place to which the boat appeared to 
be going ; but when the asses arrived, the Princess 
was not visible. By some lucky accident, two very 
wretched donkeys were near the spot where the Prin- 
cess landed. They had neither saddle nor bridle. 
On the back of each was a pad without girths, and 
on these pads the Princess and Mrs. Grey had 
to poise themselves, and plod towards Philse. The 
Princess laughed at her novel situation, and ap- 
peared to enjoy the newly -found property of balan- 
cing herself on a pad, without any girths. The 
gentlemen of the party were obliged to trudge on 
foot for three miles over sand into which the foot 
sank over the ankle at every step, alternating with 
rocky ridges and scattered stones and boulders. In 
an hour or so they came up with the Prince and 
Sir S. Baker, who had waited an hour and a half 
for their donkeys. The party halted to look at 
the performance of the Arabs, who swim down 
the boiling current of the First Cataract in the 
hope of baksheesh. It has been often described, 
but it must be seen by those who want to form 



268 SHOOTING THE RAPIDS. [chap. 

an idea of savage man as he battles with a moun- 
tain torrent, before civilization has washed the 
energy of his native force out of him. The 
spectators stand on rocks at the end of the fall, and 
distance lends decency to the black fellows, who 
leap in from a ledge one after the other, and 
in a moment are seen bobbing like the buoys 
of a fisherman's net, and then, with arms raised 
aloft alternately, are borne for a quarter of a mile 
whirling through the whitish foam to the feet of 
the spectators, and scramble up in their waistcloths 
to fight for baksheesh. An Arab is never drowned 
in the rush of waters. Several Englishmen have 
tried it, and have perished. While the Prince and 
Princess were continuing their ride towards Phila?, 
others, who had ridden over direct from Assouan — a 
route seven miles long over a most trying country, 
in a sun which would almost have cooked a beef- 
steak — arrived at the little village below the 
Island. It does not sound much, but the seven 
miles were, under the peculiar circumstances, the 
longest I ever travelled. At the foot, but not 
under the shade, of two castle-like crags of rock, 
we found pitched by the bank of the Nile a large 
tent in three compartments, handsomely carpeted, 
a dinner-tent capable of receiving forty guests, and 



x.] THE ISLAND OF PHILJE. 269 

a couple of tents for the accommodation of the 
servants. Close at hand were the vessels to which 
the Royal party were to be transferred, and long 
strings of camels were coming over the Desert with 
stores, furniture, and baggage for the voyage to 
the Second Cataract. Refreshments had already 
been sent to the Island of Philse, and thither, 
heated and thirsty, repaired the weary riders of 
stirrupless donkeys from Assouan. A rude bark 
ferried us over, and alongside our boat revelled 
Naiads, who floated on logs of wood, which they 
propelled by foot or hand with great ease, brown 
as the wood on which they lay in happy security. 
Here is a sketch of one of the water-nymphs of 
the Upper Mle and her companion. 



270 INSCRIPTIONS. [chap 

We landed on the Sacred Island, which has em- 
ployed so many pens and pencils in vain. In the 
blazing sun we wandered about the ruins and pros- 
trate slabs and columns of the Temples. No wonder 
that visitors came here and ate the priests out of 
house and home, so that they petitioned Ptolemy 
to exempt them from the charge of providing them, 
and had their prayer allowed, as is duly recorded 
on the walls in Greek — an in terrorem to beggarly 
travellers. "We had no priests to prey upon, and had 
our own provisions. There are two other inscrip- 
tions, which will explain themselves. The first is, — 

"I/an YI de la Eepublique, le 13 messidor, une 
armee francaise, commandee par Bonaparte, est de- 
scendue a Alexandria L'armee ayant mis, vingt 
jours apres, les Mamelouks en fuite aux Pyramides, 
Desaix, commandant la premiere division, les a pour- 
suivis au dela des cataractes, ou. il est arrive le 13 
ventose de Tan YII : les generaux de brigade, 
Davoust, Priant et Belliard ; Donzelot, chef de l'etat- 
major ; Latournerie, commandant rartillerie ; Eppler, 
chef de la 21 e legere ; le 13 ventose, an YII de la 
Eepublique, 3 mars, an de J. C. 1799." 

The next is, — " E. P. An YII. Balzac, Coquebert, 
Corabceuf, Costaz, Coutelle, Lacipilere, Eipeault, 
Lepere, Mechain, Nouet, Lenoir, Nectoux, Saint- 



x.] FAREWELL BANQUET. 271 

Grenis, Vincent, Dutertre, Savigny. — Long, depuis 
Paris, 30, 34, 16. Lat. boreale, 24, 1, 34." 

The Boyal party came not, and hour after hour 
passed away, amid increasing uneasiness, till just 
as we had taken boat again, and were returning 
to the opposite bank, the shrill cry of joy of the 
Nubian women was heard, and a group, among 
whom the Prince and Princess, and Mrs. Grey, 
were discernible, came in sight, making their way 
towards the landing-place, in the rays of the de- 
clining sun. On their return from Philse, dinner was 
served in the large tent, in which a table was laid 
out very prettily. Our cook was in high delight at 
being selected to prepare the banquet, but prouder still 
was he of the bit of riband, which he fondly believed 
to have been worn by the Princess, and put on the 
black ram preserved from the knife on Saturday. As 
to the said ram, I regret to report unfavourably. It 
was so pampered the moment it became a favourite 
that it became unwell in body and evil in mind. 
Raisins, oranges, ratafia, candle-ends, cabbages, and 
bonbons are not, it appears, good diet for the sheep 
of the Desert. This, alas ! was the farewell banquet. 

After dinner, Captain Achmet Hassan proposed 
" The Health of the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
and of the Duke of Sutherland," in English peculiar 

r 



272 FAREWELL. [chap. 

to himself, but his speech was intelligible, and was 
received as the vivacious officer intended. 

The Duke of Sutherland expressed the wishes of 
his party — " A prosperous voyage and happy return 
to the Prince and Princess," and proposed, " The 
Health of the Viceroy," for which Mourad Pasha 
returned thanks in an excellent speech, in French, 
giving " The Health of the Queen of England," 
which was drunk with great enthusiasm by the 
party upstanding, and with many cheers. By the 
light of the moon the guests, broken into groups, 
sat by the river bank, listening to the songs of 
the Arabs and to the "music" of native performers, 
till it was time to go, some to the boats, others 
across the Desert to Assouan, whilst a few re- 
solved to gratify their taste for camping out, by 
sleeping on the ground, in one of the tents. 

February 23rd. — The exertions and fatigues of 
the previous day infused a certain amount of lan- 
guor into the movements of the tourists. 

The Duke of Sutherland, Lord Stafford, Lord 
A. L. Grower, and myself, who composed the party 
designed expressly for the purpose of getting up to 
see the sun rise, were not so fortunate as we deserved 
to be, for the sun would insist on rising before we 
did, and the result was, that only one of the 



x.] PREPARATIONS. 273 

hardy persons who slept in the tent, roused by 
the tremendous war-cry of the Princess's donkey, 
awoke ; and he, patriarch like, gazed out in solitary 
silence on the sand-hills and rocks, warming into 
life under the touch of the golden rays which 
struck the Desert from the top of the crags beneath 
which the tents were pitched. 

A wonderful breakfast was spread in the large 
marquee — fresh fish from the Nile, of strange scale, 
said to be good by those who tasted them, and a 
succession of dishes very good for the latitude and 
longitude. The human vultures came slowly drop- 
ping in from Assouan on asses' and camels' backs to 
the feast. After breakfast the Princess, notwithstand- 
ing the heat, which the absence of any breeze rendered 
very trying, was rowed round the Island of Phila?. 

There was much to be done in shifting' and ar- 
ranging on board the dahabeahs and the steamer ; 
and there was a good deal of quiet " looking on " 
as the natives conducted the operations. 

The Viceroy's French servants and the horses mean- 
while were sent on shore, and the baggage reduced 
to the smallest compass. But still the Eoyal boats 
were full enough, and Arabs, Egyptian saiiors, 
boxes of provisions, coops of fowl and turkeys, and 
live-stock, lumbered the decks. 

T 



274 THE SEPARATION. [chap. x. 

Iii the dahabeah with the Prince and Princess 
were Mrs. Grey and Prince Louis of Battenberg; 
in the second boat Colonel Teesdale, Lord Caring- 
ton, Sir S. Baker, Mourad Pasha, Mr. Montagu, 
Captain Ellis, Dr. Minter, and Mr. Brierly ; and 
beds for two were laid on deck under an awning, 
as the accommodation was limited. A third boat, 
laden with coal and provisions, was towed by the 
small steamer in which the Boyal domestics and 
attendants were embarked, and in which the cooking 
was carried on. It was past 3 o'clock before all the 
preparations for the upward voyage were complete. 

Long time loth to depart, we halted on the bank ; 
but at last the hour came for the Boyal party, in 
diminished state, to start on their course to the 
Second Cataract. The Prince and Princess received 
the Duke of Sutherland and his friends, and Colonel 
Stanton, Major Alison, and Sir H. Pelly, who were 
returning to Thebes, on board, and with many sin- 
cere expressions of respect, and hearty wishes for 
their prosperous journey and happiness, we bade 
their Boyal Highnesses good-bye, and returned to 
Assouan, in order to descend the Nile to Cairo. 
To use the words of a little diary I have seen, 
"We were all very sorry to part company." 



CHAPTER XI. 



A DILEMMA. LADY DUFF GORDON. DOWN THE RIVER. 

JUDGMENT AND EXECUTION. AN ORDER FOR 

TURKEYS. 

"I do perceive here a divided duty." I am in 
what would in familiar speech be termed " a fix." 
The Prince and Princess have, to our infinite regret, 
separated from the party with which I am travelling, 
and are bound up the river, which we are about to 
descend. The Duke and his friends are setting out 
for home in a few days after their arrival in the 
Egyptian capital. It is plain that I can no longer 
write from my own knowledge of what occurs as 
the Eoyal travellers stem the stream. They are in 
the hands, so to speak, of Sir Samuel Baker, who 
does not pretend to any acquaintance with this 
Lower Nile, and whose Arabic, as he approaches 
the regions in which he learned his pronunciation 
of the language, comes into play. Whilst they are 
away, I must pass the time as best I can, for the 
Prince was good enough to desire, as I had no 

t 2 



276 LADY DUFF GORDON. [chap. 

pressing engagements compelling me to return to 
England with my party, that I would meet or 
await him at Cairo. Assouan has no abiding place. 
At Thebes, indeed, I might halt for a while, as 
Colonel Stanton is to stay at Luxor, on his way 
down, in order to dig for antiquarian treasures in 
hallowed ground sasigned to the Prince.* But 
success is doubtful, and as it is, his steamer does 
not contain much extra accommodation. Then how 
hard it would be to part with those who have been 
my companions for many miles and hours, and who 
have made them pass so pleasantly away ! I am 
compelled to ask my readers to leave the Eoyal 
party for a while, and to come with us down the 
Nile, share an excursion to Jerusalem, revisit the 
Suez Canal, and so return to Cairo, where they 
will find the Prince and Princess, with whom we 
will travel together till their wanderings in the 
East are brought to a close. 

On our way back from Philse to Assouan, the 
Duke and some of his party paid a visit to Lady 
Duff Gordon, whose " Letters" on Egypt had proved 
so interesting on our voyage. The Prince's visit 

* It is a way the Viceroy has of according favours to his friends. 
Thus Lord Dufferin has a digging of winch he granted the usufruct to 
the Duke in case he was inclined to prosecute researches. 



xi.] LADY DUFF GORDON. 277 

caused her very great pleasure and cheered her 
exceedingly. Her son had been down to the flotilla 
several times, and gave but sorry accounts of her 
health — the sad cause of her exile for so many 
years from home and family. At any moment her 
life, hanging on a slender thread, might cease. The 
warmth of her nature has been touched by the 
apparent degradation of the Egyptian people, and 
in her letters she has written of the Government, 
and especially of Ismail Pasha, with great severity. 
Her physical weakness rendered her dependent on 
others, and there is no doubt that, perceiving the 
direction of her mind and the tendency of her 
inquiries, those around her were disposed to exagge- 
rate any acts which seemed repressive or harsh, and 
to find out causes of complaint. Some time ago 
Lady Gordon resided in rickety rooms, constructed 
of very frail materials, in a story of a ruined temple 
at Luxor ; but now she lives in a dahabeah, which 
is at present moored above the town of Assouan, in 
a sort of pool a couple of miles below the Falls or 
Cataract. Most travellers call on the invalid, and 
find it worth their while, if they are received, for 
her conversation is spirituel and animated, and she 
has a great deal of information, rather about the 
people, however, than the country. We found our 
Mr. Duff Grordon on board the boat, which was in 



278 LADY DUFF GORDON. [chap. 

the full blaze of the sun, but was covered in on 
deck; a modest but not uncomfortable dahabeah, 
with a group of natives on deck, among whom we 
recognized Lady Gordon's often-quoted dragoman 
without the need of any description. 

The lady was reclining on a sofa in the cabin, 
which was cool and airy. Her face, notwith- 
standing traces of severe illness, presented in its 
fine outlines a type of distinction and refinement, 
and her clear deep eyes looked out on the world 
with an expression full of sincerity and enthusiasm. 
But her features were worn, and the hectic on her 
cheek, the colour of her lips, and her wasted hands 
and frame, prepared one for the difficulty with which 
she spoke, and for the cough and catching of the 
breath which interrupted her conversation. She wore 
a long, loose, oriental robe, and a fez cap, beneath 
which appeared her hair, fast turning white, cut short 
all round. At this time there is an unusual trouble 
upon the poor lady. A French newspaper, seizing 
on a passage in one of her letters written long ago, 
in which she described the misery of the fellaheen 
and rated the Viceroy very sharply, has a bitter 
article on the reported engagements of Mdlle. 
Schneider and other expensive artists for the Cairo 
Theatre. Ismail Pasha has been made aware of the 
attack, and is said to be much incensed against the 



xi.] LADY DUFF GORDON. 279 

writer. Indeed, Lady Duff Gordon believes that she 
is scarcely safe, poor lady, and is sure that Omar, her 
dragoman, will fall on evil days when she is no more. 
I find that the most — as they seem to me — extra- 
vagant notions prevail respecting the Government at 
Cairo. Poisoning, strangling, drowning, are said to 
be common modes of getting rid of obnoxious persons. 
But in one case given by Lady Gordon, of a wealthy 
native gentleman exiled for some slight offence to 
certain death in Fezegoloo, it was stated to us that 
the man was alive and well on his estates on good 
English authority. Lady Gordon led the conversa- 
tion to the condition of the Egyptian peasantry, and 
was giving an account of the apathy of the Viceroy 
in the presence of the famine in Upper Egypt now 
imminent, when Omar, who came in with pipes and 
coffee, interposed, and said that so many thousand 
measures of corn had just been sent up for the people. 
Perhaps this information might not have been forth- 
coming had we not been present. Our visit lasted 
only half an hour, as we were obliged to get on 
board our steamer and prepare for the return voyage.* 
When we got back to Assouan, a telegraphic 
despatch from Lord Clarendon was awaiting the 

* Since the above lines were written, intelligence has reached 
England of the death of Lady Duff Gordon. 



'2 SO THE TELEGRAPH AND THE TOURISTS, [chap. 

Consul-General, to be forwarded to the Prince, which 
was sent off by dromedary about 5 o'clock, and 
which the Prince received next day. 

The telegraph wires are stretched (with the excep- 
tion of one break in the Desert) away to distant 
Dongola, The posts are visible as we follow the 
course of the river, on the banks of which plod the 
reluctant camel and the patient peasantry. Pharaoh 
is bent on swift intercourse with all parts of his 
far-reaching viceroyalty. The water-wheel in use 
thousands of years ago works creakingly by the side 
of the stream, along which stretch the silent wires. 
Before the smoke of the little fleet has been lost to 
the view of the half- scared labourers who stare at 
the pageant, Cairo knows how the guests of the 
Viceroy are speeding and faring on their way, as 
his steamers stem the current towards that mystic 
South, where, hid in the mountains of an unknown 
continent, lie the sources of the great river which 
has been a wonder through all the centuries that 
man can count in his history. 

Cook's tourists have also arrived ! Their steamers 
are just below us in the stream. The tourists are 
all over the place. Some are bathing off the banks ; 
others, with eccentric head-dresses, are toiling through 
the deep sand, after an abortive attempt to reach Philse. 



xi.] A SLIGHT MISTAKE. 281 

They are just beaten by a head in the race ! Another 
clay, and the Prince and Princess would have been 
at their mercy. It is whispered that various unex- 
pected causes of delay occurred down the river — that 
coal was short ; that supplies of provisions failed 
at certain places ; that the steamers went aground 
very often. At all events, the tourists were just 
too late, and they return to-morrow, disconsolate. 

Wednesday, February 24th. — "When we got up 
this morning, our steamer was many miles north 
of Assouan, which we left at daybreak. She 
floundered, now aground, now afloat, over the shoals 
at Silsilis — the narrowest part of the river, by 
the bye — followed by the Consul's steamer ; and 
in the evening she reached Esne, ninety-two miles, 
and moored for the night. There was nothing to 
be done all day but take long shots at birds on 
the banks with rifles. Once a deadly tube was 
levelled at what was pronounced to be a crocodile. 
In another instant, who knows what would have 
happened? — for just as the finger was tightening 
on the trigger, a man made out with a glass the 
object to be an Arab rolled up in his cloak asleep 
on the sand ! Every one says we ought to have 
stopped for an hour at Silsilis, where there are 
most interesting remains, and very ancient and 



2S2 KARNAK AGAIX. [chap. 

renowned quarries. Every one asks why we did 
not stop, and no one answers the question. 

February 25th. — A hot wind. Ban down from 
Esne rapidly, and reached Thebes (Luxor) at break- 
fast-time (thirty-two miles). Went on shore ; called 
on Mustapha Aga, who made presents of scarabs 
all round. Wandered over the place all day, and 
made a most delightful excursion, in the bright 
moonlight, to Karnak, where we mounted up to the 
top of a gigantic pylon, and sat watching the 
stars, and talking mild philosophy, far into the 
night. I am not sure that the ruins were not 
more impressive in their silent vastness, with the 
moonbeams resting on the broken walls, and casting 
mysterious shadows across the mighty halls, than 
they were when touched up with red, blue, and 
green — nay, I am sure they were. Perched up 
here, one can almost agree with Hekekyan Bey, 
that the e} r e of the ancient priest was a better 
astronomical instrument than a six-foot achromatic, 
that is, under the conditions he specified. " With his 
senses purified by fasting, and his mind cleared 
by vigil, the Pharaohonic astronomer, coming out of 
a dark chamber in the heart of the pyramid and 
taking his lonely stand on the level ledge, could ob- 
serve the motions of the heavenly bodies, and detect 



xi.] KENEH. 283 

their actions, at least as well as the modern philo- 
sopher, who has been eating rich meats and drinking 
wines, although he may have fine optical instruments 
to aid him." The quantity of wine would certainly 
have something to do with the matter. 

February 26th. — It was after 6 o'clock when our 
steamer, towing a felucca, in which the Princess's 
sheep was a forecastle passenger, left Luxor, lighted 
equally by sun and moon. Colonel Stanton remained 
at Thebes, with Sir Henry Pelly and Major Alison 
to assist in his explorations. Mustapha Aga was 
not visible, but Said, his son, bound on occult 
errands, took a passage with us. We reached 
Keneh at 11 o'clock. The Consular Agent's son 
came on board, and invited us to a banquet in the 
town. It would be interesting to ascertain what 
idea our Consular person at Keneh has of the em- 
pire he represents. The representative of Said 
Hamed Omazeen received the translation of the 
Duke's speech refusing the invitation, and ex- 
plaining that we were making for Cairo with all 
speed, with obvious disappointment. 

As some consolation, the Duke and party wrote 
their names on a sheet of note-paper, which gave 
him every satisfaction. There was at all events no 
need of imitating the caution of Talleyrand on a 



284 NILE SWIMMERS. [chap. 

similar occasion. Here Said of Luxor left us, and 
was seen glorious on a donkey, vanishing like a 
shadow, desertwards, followed by another animal of 
the same kind laden with his bed. Oh ! Said, where 

is my No ! perhaps you forget all about it, and 

I will not jog your memory. Whilst the steamer 
was coaling, great excitement was extracted out ol 
the accidental appearance of an empty bottle in 
the river. At the sight some mud-coloured Egyp- 
tians, who had been sitting in a boat near at 
hand, silent and motionless as so many Sphinges, 
bounded into life, threw off their simple garments, 
and dashed into the flood. They are strong swim- 
mers, these Arabs. They swim edgeways, throwing 
aloft their arms alternately, and dragging them 
through the water so that the head and shoulders 
rise out of the stream, as they strike powerfully 
down with their legs. The empty bottle bobbed 
up and down in the current, and one line young 
fellah, running through his horses, seized it, and 
returned triumphantly to shore. The fun was not 
allowed to slacken for want of material. The Nile 
bristled with empty bottles, and the water was 
alive with black shaven heads, belonging to vigorous 
bodies and contending arms. One master executed 
a feat ; caught two bottles in one hand, held a 



xr.] SAND-BANKS. 285 

third in the other, and pushed a fourth before him 
with his chest. The hand with the two bottles was 
held aloft, the other he used to keep his course, and 
thus, after performing a tour de force in the water 
which it would puzzle many a champion swimmer 
at borne to accomplish in such a stream, he gained 
the edge of the boat from which he leaped. 

Soon after leaving Keneh, the steamer alighted on 
a sand-bank, and Ali Captan sacrificed several of the 
crew to bis divine rage at the water being so low, or 
the land being so high, and abused all the natives 
visible on shore in very effective Arabic. In vain 
the crew poled in the way in vogue in Thames 
steamers when they got aground about Kew, or 
Hampton Court. In vain boats filled with chocolate- 
coloured fellahs, who leaped into the water neck 
higb, and shoved with all their force — little it must 
have been in such a case, as they could scarcely keep 
their legs — came off from shore in quick succession ; 
it was only by putting out an anchor, and working 
on it with hawsers, that we backed off the steamer, 
after an hour's hard work. In an hour more the 
vessel stuck again. Once more there came from 
shore a swarm of fellahs, who grunted like a marsh 
full of frogs, their heads alone above the flood ; 
muscular fellows, with square high shoulders and 



286 FELLAHEEN. [chap. 

narrow hips, the type of the ancient race depicted in 
the temples ; light and thin, but, as a rule, fairly 
grown and well made. They feed on the coarsest 
bread, pnlses, and maize. Their sole drink is water. 
Not one had bad or discoloured teeth. When a boat 
alongside, which F. M. and myself strove to keep 
from crushing them, by fending off from the saloon 
windows, swerved in, they were obliged to crouch 
down up to their noses. Some of the shorter went 
quite under, and, cork-like, bobbed up again. Al- 
though the sun was hot, they shivered, with chat- 
tering teeth, as if it were mid-winter. At 6 o'clock 
the ship was put round, and made fast to the left 
bank, at Eeiseah, a very poor village, surrounded as 
usual by date and doum trees. This grounding cost 
us two whole hours, and our craft gave signs of rough 
usage in extra creaking and shaking. It was full 
moon, and after dinner some of us strolled on shore, 
and had an opportunity of inspecting the working of 
the police system, which is really as perfect as that 
of London — in some respects, at all events. If dogs 
will bark at roving Englishmen, roving Englishmen 
will pelt dogs. A yelping of many dog power, caused 
by the overthrow of a huge cur by a well aimed 
brickbat, eliminated from some shaded retreat a 
native gentleman, armed with a sharp short spear, 



xi.] VILLAGE POLICE. 287 

who " invited " the truants to return to their ship 
in vain. He sent off a comrade, who returned with 
an ancient firelock, and his feelings " may be more 
readily imagined than described" when he saw the 
illustrious strangers turning their faces towards the 
river and yielding to timid solicitations, which 
indeed they did not need, as the dogs had all fled. 



Having achieved this victory, the man of the spear 




and the man of the firelock sat down on the bank by 
our watch-fire, and awaited events. It so happened 



288 A JUDGMENT. [chaf. 

that there was a great one to wind up our night. 
Between the Italian intendance and the Egyptian 
crew, from Captain to lamp -lighter, there was a great 
gulf fixed, in which raged a sea of acrimony and distrust. 
From time to time wine had been missed on board, 
and suspicion, like an agitated sparrow, flew from place 
to place, and rested on head after head. Now, however, 
for an anonymous person, employed to act as an ani- 
mated lighthouse on shore when the steamer moored 
for the night, hitherto in moderate repute, some 
malignant star rose. He was caught by Giovanni's 
brother gliding away with two bottles of our finest 
Sauterne. Terentio, joyous, came swift to the saloon, 
and advised Ali Eisa of the fact. That much-besought- 
after officer laid aside his cigar, hastened on deck, 
held court, and pronounced sentence. Oh, Allah! 
How the silent night was rendered hideous by the 
edict of that righteous and not over stern judge ! 
As Anonymous had offended on former occasions by 
staring at the Prince and Princess — as moreover there 
was reason to think he was the committer of many 
a previous larceny — the sentence was that he be 
then and there put over the side, and allowed to 
find his way to Cairo as well as he could. His 
worldly goods consisted of a piece of sackcloth, a 
bottle, and a ragged calico gown, and these were 



xi.] MIDNIGHT MUSKETRY. 289 

handed over the gangway readily. But their owner 
was a stout fellow, and desperate. His shouts were 
fiendish ; he resisted fiercely the efforts of four men 
to eject him, till with a shove all together he 
was sent bounding on shore, where the policemen and 
a sheik seated by the watch-fire were the only 
spectators of his calamity. How he screamed and 
yelled, and invoked the moon to hear him ! How 
he called on the Duke to protect him, and cited a 
long life of unblemished reputation and the names 
of famous ancestors as proofs of his innocence ! He 
danced on the beach, kicked out the watch-fire, 
and for more than an hour kept shouting and 
appealing to Ali Eisa. At last the latter lost all 
patience, called to sheik and policemen, and the de- 
linquent was swiftly carried away into the interior, in 
a tempest of outcries which was worthy of an angry 
menagerie. Spirits of mischief were on the wing. As 
we were sitting quietly in the cabin shortly after this, 
bang went a gun in the village. After a minute the 
report of a musket was heard from the opposite shore 
— then another ; and so in a moment of enthusiasm 
I took out a Colt, which had been loaded the day 
before the first unlucky Battle of Bull Bun, and dis- 
charged barrel after barrel towards the opposite shore, 
silencing the enemy's fire, and extorting the admira- 

u 



290 TWO OBSTINATE ANIMALS. [chap. 

tion of the sheik and policemen. What the firing 
was about no one could divine, but more than one 
heard the singing of a bullet. It is probable the 
shots were fired by village watchmen to show they 
were on the alert. There are robbers on the river, 
and there is perturbation concerning a Greco-Italian 
who is missing. He was apparently of a trustful or 
ostentatious character, for he showed gold and silver, 
to be observed of men in all places. Setting out 
from Sioot on a mule of well-known perversity, he 
was entreated by the Governor not to proceed, but he 
was as obstinate as the animal itself. Well, the mule 
never pulled up till it reached a station fourteen hours 
from Sioot, where hunger induced the quadruped to 
halt the next morning. The sheik of the town 
begged the traveller to change mules. But he would 
not : he mounted once more, and he may be making 
straight for the Mountains of the Moon, for man or 
mule have not been heard of since, and anxious 
inquiries have been already made after him by the 
Government, acted on by the consul, from Cairo. 

Saturday, February 27th. — We left Eeiseah, the 
City of the Outcast, rather too long after day- 
break. Our captain, for an Egyptian, is not very 
matinal, and such a shock as he had to his 
nervous system last night is not easily recovered. 



xi.] AS YD US ABANDONED, 291 

There is a perceptible coldness in the air when 
the sleeping- cabin window is opened by the early 
riser; he is more apt to feel a sharp wind than he 
was a week ago. We are running against the ever- 
blowing north breeze, instead of going with it. 
Last night the air was so chilly I was glad to 
gather up the discarded quilted cotton bed-cover, 
and draw it over the blankets. In council last night 
it was decided to stop at Grirgeh, in order to visit 
the temples and ruins at Abyclus ; but when the 
morning broke a change fell upon us. The day 
turned out to be an abominable anachronism — a 
dim, watery sky, a wind driving sand and dust, 
and not a ray of accustomed sunshine. Eelianeh 
is the proper place to land if the traveller desires 
to go to Abydus; but Ali Eisa stated that no 
donkeys could be procured there, as we had made 
no previous arrangements for the purpose, and that 
we must go on to Grirgeh. So speeding on, men 
became vacuous as to Abydus. Murray was fur- 
tively looked at and laid aside. It could not be 
said he gave the least encouragement to any one 
desirous of shirking Abydus on the ground that 
it was destitute of interest. Hamed was consulted : 
he declared roundly that it took two hours and a 
half to go to Abydus on the very best donkeys, and 

u 2 



292 A FZ Y-PHYLA CTIC. [chap. 

that a fair average was three hours — then an hour at 
least would be needed for the most hasty survey 
of the ruins, so that it would be dark ere we could 
get back to Grirgeh, and then it would be too late 
to move that night. Need I say what the result 
was? At 10.40 a.m. The Ornament of the Two 
Seas swept past Grirgeh in triumph. No doubt 
most of us flattered ourselves that in a good time 
coming we shall visit Abydus with a favouring 
wind and no dust. 

The skipper relieved the monotony of the course 
by occasionally arranging attachments between the 
bottom of the ship and the bed of the Nile, and, 
rightly or wrongly, came in for a good deal of the 
censure which is like to be sent forth from travellers 
vexed with flies and idleness. Mem. as to flies— 
a veil with large net, or a piece of coarse gauze, 
stretched over a sheet of pasteboard, with a hole 
cut in it to fit the head, is a very good fly- 
phylactic — I invented it in India, and used it 
with marked success. You can breathe, read, and 
write with your head-dress on, and if you wear 
gloves you will be quite able to set at defiance the 
loathsome, fat, filthy, persecuting plagues, and enjoy 
their mortification even though you be laughed at 
for your strange guise. 



xi.] SOUITADJ. 293 

At Souliadj, where the steamer halted for nearly 
an hour to take in coal, there was a repetition of the 
scenes so familiar at every town along the banks 
of the Nile. The same women busy drawing 
water, washing feet and legs, crouching on the 
sand, or stalking away, with water -jars on their 
heads, like stately animals going to their lairs — 
the same children along the banks — the same men, 
in blue gowns and white turbans, squatted in the 
same sized coteries. Ali Eisa went on shore and 
took up with the same manner of sheiks as he 
met before. Collections of mudirs, scribes, and 
cavasses were at hand to welcome him, as if they 
had all hurried on from the last station. The 
same old men and boys, in tattered clothes, came 
on board with the same small bags full of coal, 
and emptied them into the bunkers ; and as for 
houses, date-trees, and pigeon colonies and buz- 
zards„ it would be hard to say in what they 
differed from those seen anywhere else in our 
course up and down. Souhadj is a city of great 
importance, and promises, if not washed away by 
the Nile, to become greater. At the spot where 
the steamer was fastened, there were one doctor 
and two sheiks, three sheep, two donkeys, saddled, 
one buffalo calf, three black boys, three women with 



294 NILE EMIGRANTS, [chap. 

veiled heads, a dim-eyed, toothless hadjee of great 
size, smoking a short chibouque, and seven fellahs, 
all packed on top of water-jars and bags of mer- 
chandise in a small craft, sunk down to the mud- 
plastered gunwales. The buffalo mother, with a 
rope fastened round her nostrils, in charge of a lad 
on shore, stared, with that peculiar wild look which 
marks the animal, at her disconsolate calf; but she 
was not to be separated, for the lad swam off with 
the end of the rope, which was made fast to the 
side, and then, as the sail was loosed, the poor 
creature was dragged along, struggling and blowing, 
and half-drowning in the water, till her struggles 
threatened to overturn the boat, and she was cast off 
to return to shore, where she stood, piteously calling 
to her young one, till she was butted on board a 
larger boat to join it at the other side. Another 
skiff crammed full of shrouded women, turban ed 
men, asses, goats, sheep, a horse, general merchan- 
dise, and children was also bound to the other bank 
of the river, because the administration was supposed 
to be less severe. Migration is much in favour 
still in Egypt. Half a village will vanish in a 
night, with a celerity and completeness to be envied 
by the less expert practitioners in more civilized 
lands. 



xi.] AN ORDER FOR TURKEYS. 295 

The Governor, poor man ! was in much distress at 
the receipt of an order to send 2,000 turkeys to 
Cairo for the purpose of assisting at feasts to be 
given on the occasion of the marriage of one of the 
Viceroy's daughters. But that is not all. If our 
interpreters were not wrong in gathering up and 
rendering the rumours which perplexed the councils 
of Souhadj, a similar order had been sent to each 
of the eight governors of provinces ; so that an 
army of 16,000 turkeys is demanded by the agents 
of the Viceroy. The fellahs are driven into a market 
which has, of course, followed the usual law of 
supply and demand. They pay 100 piastres for 
a turkey, and they get only 20 or 25 piastres 
from the Government. . 

We left Souhadj with every wish for the success 
of the worthy Governor in bagging his birds, and 
delved through the river under great crags, perforated 
with mummy caves, which rise above the eastern 
bank. "When Ali Captan was minded to run in shore 
at sundown, for the night, the suppressed energies 
of certain among us were aroused, and he was forced 
to go on for a place marked Teme in Leake's map. 
It is not easy to imagine what satisfaction is caused 
by a little triumph of this sort over surrounding 
functionaries, or the proportionate prostration of the 



296 TEME. [chap. xi. 

official mind at being thwarted in the selection of 
time and place for the conclusion of the day. A 
lazjr man, who wished to gain a reputation for active 
habits, caused some resentment by objecting to the 
compulsory proceeding on the ground that he would 
have liked to have gone on shore for half an hour to 
take a walk before dark ; which hypothetical peram- 
bulation he insinuated he would have indulged in 
had the Captain been allowed to take up his quarters 
at an earlier hour. 

At night the wind fell — it would appear to be its 
wont at this time of year in the evening — and the 
moon, after a conflict with a screen of encumbering 
clouds, cast them off, and sailed forth into a blue 
clear sea of sky ; a small moon, however, neither 
so bright nor so large as we see her in less genial 
lands, nearer the cold and vaporous North. 



CHAPTER XII. 



MASHALLAH. THE MUDIR OF SIOOT. MINIEH. AN 

EGYPTIAN SPECIAL. CAIRO AGAIN. — THE PARTING. 

February 28th.- — ' 1 Hope told a nattering tale" 
last night, and so did Ali Risa. We fondly believed 
both. There is some glimmering of reason in these 
Dougal creatures on the Nile, who so obstinately 
refuse to satisfy the craving, boring, persistent 
infidel, who asks for ever, " When shall we arrive ? 
How long will it take us ? " Their answer is 
something to this effect. " It depends on my run- 
ning you on sand-banks or not — also, on collisions 
— or many things, in fact, which prevent my saying 
more than ' Grod grant you facilities.' " That is, they 
utter the latter part of this little process of reasoning, 
and leave the other part to be inferred. Our 
itinerary was made out without " Inshaliah ! " or 
" Mashallah ! " Last night it was agreed and deter- 
mined we would be at Sioot in three hours after 
starting from Teme, and coal there; then move on 



298 ALI CAP TAN. [chap. 

as fast as we could, and if we did not reacli Minieh, 
at all events to touch Elioda for the night, and then 
to go on to Minieh, so as to reach Cairo before 
dinner that day. It was half-past 10 o'clock in the 
forenoon, and we had left Teme five hours. Sioot 
was in sight — two minarets peering above a grove 
of palm-trees. Suddenly there was a tremendous 
thumping of feet and shouting over head. Ali 
Captan had again found a soft spot, and had run 
The Ornament of the Two Seas on it with much 
vigour, amid a crowd of sailing boats, the owners 
and crews of which were engaged in praying for him 
heartily. Now, generally I am disposed to find ex- 
cuses for the contretemps which occur to Ali Captan ; 
but on this occasion my gun was spiked, for the afore- 
said Ali, having seen these dahabeahs hard aground 
in the river, made right at them, in spite of frantic 
cries of " You will be lost ! Do not go on ! You will 
be lost ! " Ali Captan, with his head wrapped in a 
yellow and red silk sash with long ends, hands and 
arms drooping like the wings of a gorged vulture, 
and knees bent feebly, as if deprecating fate, stood 
the image of nautical incompetence, cuffing his crew 
at intervals, and administering back-handers to any 
stray mariner whose activity marked him for special 
punishment. " Yellah ! yellah ! " stamp and go — 



xii.] OFF AND ON AGAIN. 299 

something is moving. It is the kedge — Ali Captan 
for some time thinks it is the ship. When he finds 
it's the kedge, he says and does evil things. It is a 
lovely morning — rather fresh, but snnny and breezy. 
" Hippo," our beloved Hamed, unconsciously attri- 
buting to us the feeling which M. de Yoltaire ascribed 
to all Englishmen, suggests that " it is bad for gentle- 
men to be shut like this way — why not take felucca, 
and land with gun and kill something?" But we await 
events on board. It was now past 11 o'clock. It 
was discovered that Ali Captan was going to make 
The Ornament of the Two Seas a terrestrial fixture 
at last by pulling her bodily up on a shallow ; so the 
kedge was lifted and carried to another spot. " Yellah ! 
yellah ! " " With the help of God ! " Stamp and go, 
again. She stirs not — Nubian and fellah, and sailor 
and Italian waiter, cooks and stray hands, work 
away and strain on the hawser ! Hundreds accu- 
mulate on hundreds. Hurrah ! She moves at last ! 
In an hour we were afloat again ! The old Eeis, 
with his pole, keeps sounding conscientiously at the 
bow as we thread through narrows and shoals. The 
delay in getting off a vessel going northward with 
the stream is much greater, naturally, than that 
caused by running aground when ascending. We 
are now, 12.43, hard and fast once more ! One o'clock, 



300 INCIDENTS OF NILE TRAVEL. [chap. 

still hard and fast — 6 feet water at the bow, 2\ 
amidships — all hands shouting and hauling, and boats 
coming alongside with hundreds of men to shove 
us off. All the sheiks around for miles have been 
summoned to do service, and a gathering " of the clans 
is taking place. We were getting our heavy baggage 
and ship's stores into boats alongside to lighten the 
steamer, and it was rather a blue look-out. 

A great expanse of blowing sand, above which 
appeared the mountain ranges bordering the Desert 
— date-trees and mountains formed our landscape. 
The fellahs cared very little about the scenery ; our 
decks swarmed with them, teeth chattering, shivering, 
and making expressive pantomime to indicate that 
they were hungry and thirsty. Some of our party 
were rowed off to a sand-bank, and proceeded on foot 
to Sioot. At last there was a tremendous effort — 
pole, kedge, hawser — all at once. Once more we float 
in the stream. 

These are incidents of travel when the Nile is low. 
If a voyager be in no great hurry, it is of no conse- 
quence to run aground every hour or so. The opera- 
tion of " butting" the steamer off is rather interesting, 
and the facility with which thousands of men are 
gathered by the sheiks, and the alacrity with which 
the poor fellahs work, render the operation very 



xii.] A VICTORY. 301 

novel to a European, who cannot understand how 
men should be so devoted to the interests of others 
without the smallest recompense. This involuntary 
labour, no doubt, is familiar for many generations 
to the dwellers in this land, whose ancestors are 
depicted in the temples hauling great ships over 
land, just as they transported, by sheer force, the 
gigantic blocks which formed their temples. It 
is no exaggeration to say that, for the rest of our 
course, the ship was almost as much driven through 
sand and mud as through water. 

"We arrived at Sioot a little before sunset ; and soon 
after our steamer moored, Mr. Cook's tourists hove 
in sight, and bore down on the city. As we came 
up to the landing-place we observed a crowd of 
people lining the high bank, in evident commotion. 
A steamer appeared, with flags flying ; and as she 
approached the bank discharges of musketry, answered 
by loud cries on shore, announced some unusual event. 
She was crowded with soldiers and cavasses. The 
cause of all this agitation was the success of the 
Governor in a military expedition. The trophies of 
his victory were five miserable-looking Arabs, bound 
with cords, dragging blocks of wood attached by 
chains to their legs, who were surrounded by cavasses 
and soldiers, and hurried off to prison. Each of 



302 THE CONQUERING MUDIR. [chap. 

these men produced a furore in the crowd, and from 
time to time the popular joy found expression in dis- 
charges of firelocks and pistols, and murmurs of admi- 
ration. At last the Mudir himself appeared, flushed 
with victory — indeed, so elated that he scarcely conde- 
scended to put his feet upon the ground. How the 
world is given to servility ! This little Mudir found 
a whole knot of courtiers, salaaming to the earth, 
seizing the tail of his rather dirty tunic, and assisting 
with eager hands his ascent of the bank. The fat 
little sheiks became absolutely lively, and quivered 
with emotion, as they welcomed him. Ali Eisa came 
forward to express our pleasure at seeing the victorious 
general safely back from his expedition. But for the 
moment the Mudir had soared far above Dukes and 
Beys and the like. With a wave of his hand he 
passed Ali Eisa and went his way on his ass to the 
city, followed by the whole mass of the people. 
" One would think," said Ali Eisa, " he was returning 
from the capture of Sebastopol." The prisoners were 
part of a band of a tribe of Arabs rather troublesome 
to the good people of Sioot, who had fallen upon 
some camels, and were carrying them off through the 
Desert for sale at Cairo. It is a practice among the 
Arabs. They espy a string of camels in the cultivated 
land, make a dash, hurry them off into the Desert, 



xil] CHILDREN OF ISHMAEL. 303 

where the fellahs dare not follow them, and then, by 
forced journeys, avoiding all the cultivated lands, 
make their way towards some large city, where they 
sell the beasts, and return to the wilderness. They 
had not, however, reckoned upon the uses of the 
electric telegraph. It seems scarcely fair play to 
work the telegraph and the Bedoueen together. The 
Governor heard where they were, and hurrying on 
board a steamer, descended the Nile swiftly, landed, 
and, cutting across the narrow strip of cultivated land, 
fell upon the Arabs, and seized the camels, which, 
in spite of certain marks recognized by the lawful 
owners, they declared belonged to them. There was 
a scuffle, in which two Arabs were wounded and 
others escaped into the Desert; but the Mudir's 
victory was bloodless to his own people. After 
dinner we intended to visit Sioot, and to see a dance, 
which was commanded beforehand. Ali Eisa ordered 
donkeys to be in readiness, but no donkeys were to 
be seen when we walked on shore. The torch- 
bearers had left to the bright moon the task, which 
it well fulfilled, of lighting up the scene. Ali Eisa 
stamped and shouted in vain ; no one appeared. At 
last Colonel Marshall and Lord Albert Grower, be- 
coming impatient, declared they would walk to the 
town, a couple of miles away. They started along the 



304 AN ADVENTURE. [chap. 

elevated causeway, lined by magnificent trees, beneath 
the shade of which we watched their figures receding 
until they were lost in the grey obscurity. " The 
donkey boys," quoth Ali Eisa, " are sure to come. 
They will get such a beating if they do not ! " But 
they came not ; so the rest of the party followed the 
example of their fellows, and set out towards the 
town. Not a soul was visible, not a sound to be heard, 
except the cry of some wild beast afar off in the 
fields, or of the night-jar flickering about the trees. 
We were about half way towards the city, when two 
figures sprang out of the shade of the trees, and 
nearly met with a warm reception before they were 
identified. It was the two Life Guardsmen who had 
preceded us en vedette. " Hallo ! what are you 
fellows doing here ? " To our inquiries no satisfaction 
was vouchsafed, and we continued our march, 
F. M. and A. Gr. evidently big with some impor- 
tant secret affecting our future destiny. At a 
bend in the road, a glint of moonlight, breaking 
through the trees, fell upon a group of men. 
As we approached, these men threw themselves 
across our path, bristling with lances, swords, pistols, 
guns. AH Eisa, confident and smiling, advanced to 
the leader, and said a few words, to which there 
was a gruff reply. Ali Eisa raised his voice. To 



xir.] FORCING THE PASS. 305 

whom the leader made a loud response, aided by a 
corresponding chorus of his followers. " They are 
quite mad," said Ali Eisa, in English ; " they re- 
fuse to let us pass ! This fool of a Governor ! " 
Then he burst into Arabic, threatening the ven- 
geance of all the terrestrial powers in Egypt, if 
the great Duke, the Khedive's bosom friend, were 
stopped on the high road. It was now evident why 
the donkeys were not forthcoming. The Pasha 
had forbidden the boys to leave the town. The 
guard had been posted with positive orders to 
prevent our going to the city. Every one's blood 
was up. Ali Eisa gesticulated, stamped (I am 
afraid, swore), in a manner awful and wonderful. 
There was an evident yielding about the stomachs 
of the band, a quivering about their belts, a gentle 
retrocession of pistol handles, and raising of lance 
points, as Ali Eisa, adjuring, vociferating, and 
shaking his fist, fulminated against the Mudir, and 
roused up all the sleeping dogs of Sioot afar. 
The resolution and badinage of the strangers, 
who kept steadily pressing against the bearded 
warriors, produced also due effect. At last, 
closing our files, we all pushed past the wavering 
chief. The band were taken by surprise. We 
tramped on towards the city, surrounded by the 

x 



306 THE STORMING OF SIOOT. [chap. 

patrol, in evident consternation and infirmity of 
purpose. We entered by the narrow lane which 
leads to the small market-place. Apparently the 
whole city was asleep, although it was not much 
more than half after 8 o'clock. Advancing down 
a tortuous street, we arrived at the gate of the 
Bazaar. It was closed. With violent kicks and 
hammering of big stones, the gate, resounding, 
amidst the din of baying dogs indescribable, was 
urged to the utmost. Presently the tramp of feet 
inside was heard, and the challenge of the guar- 
dians. " Open 1 " cried Ali Eisa ; " open to the 
friend of the Viceroy ! " Probably the summons 
was still more terrible. The heavy bolts were with- 
drawn, the gates unlocked, and we entered the 
Bazaar, lighted up by the moon, which revealed 
the shadows of dogs as they fled, or the form of 
some mendicant, wrapped up in his cloak, raising 
his sleepy head to stare at the procession of stran- 
gers. Every bazaar and quarter of the town was 
fastened up in a similar way, and each was opened 
in the same fashion. Ali Eisa was in former 
times the Lieutenant- Governor of Sioot, and the 
police by degrees recognized their old master. A 
great fear then fell upon the people who had 
denied us admission. Still there was no dance. 



xii.] A SIOOT CERITO. . 307 

The dancers, in compliance with the Governor's 
order, had retired or hidden themselves. At length 
one very old man and a little boy with their 
musical instruments were produced, and we were 
led to the roof of the house to see a fat old 
woman dance by the light of a cocoanut-oil lamp. 
It was concluded that the sport was not worth 
the candle, and we descended to the street, to 
return on board the steamer. "What a change was 
there now ! A whole squadron of donkey-boys 
and troops of donkeys were waiting, and con- 
spicuous in the midst the milk-white ass of the 
Pasha himself, with its scarlet and gold trappings. 
So our return to the steamer was effected in great 
state, and the very patrol acted as a guard of honour. 

The only hypothesis which occurred to us was that 
the Muclir's head was turned by his martial exploits, 
or that he mistook our party for the tourists. 

It fared ill with this poor man eventually — not 
that he deserved sympathy, if what we heard of 
him were true. A semi-savage, harsh old soldier 
of Ibrahim Pasha, he had been made a Governor 
to reward services for campaigns in the Soudan. 

March 1st. — We left Sioot early and proceeded on 
our way to Minieh, and after several flirtations with 
sand-banks, arrived at our destination a little after 



30S • AN EGYPTIAN SPECIAL. [chap. 

2 p.m. A special train had been ordered by the Vice- 
roy's officers, but it was not quite in readiness. Pro- 
visions, stores, servants, had to be landed, and 
there was also a delicate little operation to be per- 
formed by the Duke, who was seen engaged with the 
faithful Alister making up sundry rouleaus in some 
way connected with that process of baksheesh which 
attaches itself to great and small in all transactions 
of Egyptian life. It was near 7 o'clock before the 
train was loaded. Mr. Betts, who came from Cairo 
to take charge, was somewhat anxious, as the 
journey was the first ever made over the line by 
express train at night. Nor did we altogether refrain 
from sharing his solicitude, when he informed us 
that camels were in the habit of selecting the line for 
a promenade in the dark, and that a ship of the desert 
laden with sugar-cane would present obstacle enough 
to throw the engine off the rails. To us it seemed as 
if a fly would have sufficed for that end. We ceased 
to wonder at or admire the short time taken in the 
construction of this remarkable line. Such jolting, 
bounding, swerving as the train was exposed to ! It 
leaped and oscillated so that every instant seemed to 
announce a crisis. But use breeds contempt, and when 
we were safely delivered at the Gizeh station, on the 
west bank of the river, at 2 o'clock next morning, 



xii.] A CAIRO CONCERT. 309 

most of us had enjoyed a sleep. The 147 miles from 
Minieh had taken seven hours, including stoppages 
for supper, and for the refreshment of man and 
engine ; but the imperfect construction of the line 
made one fancy the speed was far greater. The 
station is several miles from the Bridge of Boats by 
which we had to cross to the city of Cairo. Beys 
and Viceregal officials, with carriages, mounted 
cavasses, &c, were all in attendance to receive the 
Duke and his party, and to conduct them to the 
palace, which we found just as we had left it. In 
the morning we received invitations to the Viceroy's 
to witness a theatrical representation, and as a 
curiosity here is a, copy of the bill of the play : — 

DE LA 

REPRESENTATION DRAMATIQUE ET MUSICALE 
Donnee an Palais de Kasr-el-Nil, Le Mardi, 2 Mars 1869, a 8 h. 1/2 du soir. 
Tambour Battant, 

Comedie -Vaudeville en 1 Acte, Jouee par Mmes. Fillion, Legrand, et M. 
Donatien. 

Intermede Musical, 
Execute par M. Le Chevalier De Kontski, Pianiste de S. M. le Roi de Prusse. 
Le Reveil du Lion, marche militaire, par M. De Kontski. Fantaisie sur 
Faust (Gounod). 

REPRESENTATION EXTRAORDINAIRE, 

Donnee par Les Deux Celebres Nains Italiens, MM. Primo Magri, age" de 
19 ans (metre 0,90). Ernest Magri, age" de 22 ans (metre 1,04). 

LES JURONS DE CADILLAC, 
Comedie nouvelle en 1 Acte, du Gymnase, Jouee par M. Richard et Mile. 
Montaland. 



310 THE CITADEL. [chap. 

The performance took place before a brilliant 
audience, in a very pretty theatre admirably arranged. 
There is a problem to be solved in reference to 
the condition of European ladies in Cairo. When 
they pass girlhood they become as fat as poulardes. 
In the intervals of the pieces the Viceroy led the 
way, with some of the ladies present, to a suite of 
rooms, where refreshments were prepared. The 
Viceroy's valetaille are dressed in scarlet and gold 
lace. He was very anxious to hear if all had 
gone well up the Nile, but expressed his fears 
that the heat would prove too great for the 
Princess. 

March 3rd. — The morning was windy. Wind 
in Cairo means dust, and dust in Cairo means 
utter discomfort. Egypt is beginning to misbehave 
itself. 

We started with Ali Eisa to visit the Egyptian 
House of Commons — there is no House of Lords 
— in the Citadel. As we were entering, we met a 
stream of respectable-looking men, old and middle- 
aged — some in carriages, some few on horseback, 
many on asses, and some on foot — passing the 
Mamelukes' Gate. " The House is up," said our 
guide, and so we missed the chance of seeing 
a very curious development of the Viceroy's 



xii.] THE EGYPTIAN PARLIAMENT. 311 

policy. His Highness meets his Parliament 
comme un autre, makes a speech to them on the 
state of public affairs at home and abroad, shows 
what he has done, and declares what he is going 
to do for the good of the country ; and then leaves 
them to go through the forms of a popular delibe- 
rative body ; but, as far as I can understand, their 
functions are very limited indeed. Some of them 
might, certainly, be made absent without being 
missed. Many of them might be equal to the 
work of legislation ; but it was disappointing to be 
told of the most venerable-looking old gentleman 
of all, that he was a " fanatic," opposed to reform, 
a believer in the Koran as the sole guide of the 
people in morality and politics, and intensely anti- 
Christian. " Indeed," added my informant, " I am 
pretty sure that if the majority had their own way 
they would not, perhaps, persecute, but they would 
certainly deport, every Christian in Egypt." It is 
worth reflecting on, that this Parliament, which 
makes, in its way, a step towards life and freedom, 
sits within the walls which saw the massacre of 
the Mamelukes. Terrible as that measure was, 
treacherous, savage, and unrelenting, it produced 
good fruit, and laid the foundations, even in blood, 
of an edifice of government which without it could 



312 THE PYRAMIDS. [chap. 

never have been possible. " Kill ! Mil ! kill ! " 
These words from the lips of the stern Turk, 
uttered in the crisis of that awful coup d'etat, 
gave life to Egypt, or rendered the existence of 
good government possible. 

We visited Ali Bisa's house, and heard acci- 
dentally how swift had been the wrath of the 
Viceroy. The Duke happened to mention that the 
Mudir of Sioot had been somewhat uncourteous. 
Hey, presto ! Off went an order for his disgrace, 
deprivation, and exile to Eezegoloo, or Lord knows 
where ! All his relatives were howling, and depre- 
cating, and begging and praying, and at last the 
Duke promised to intercede on behalf of the hap- 
less potentate. In the evening we went to the 
Opera, and saw the " Grand Duchess of Grerolstein," 
in which the principal lady certainly was a fair 
excuse .to the least difficult Fritz in the world. 

March 4th. — Ali Eisa informed us that the 
Prince and Princess were getting on rapidly and 
well yesterday. At 9 o'clock the party started in 
the Yiceroy's carriages for the Pyramids of Gizeh, 
crossed the Bridge of Boats and got on the road 
from Cairo, which has been made for the Eoyal 
visit. In two hours we reached the base of the 
Pyramids. There were three sheiks and thirty-six 



xii.] STATE BALL. 313 

Arabs told off to take care of us. Mounted the 
Pyramid of Cheops, and were sorry for ourselves, 
for the wind raised such clouds of dust that the 
view was obscured. One of the Arabs started 
from the top of the Pyramids, descended to the 
base, and running across to the other Pyramid, 
climbed to the summit in seven minutes — a tremen- 
dous performance, yet done easily. It had been 
arranged that we would go to Sakhara, but after 
visiting the Sphinx, examining the wells, and 
lunching in the new Kiosk, which has been built 
for the Prince and Princess, close to the front of 
the Pyramid of Cheops, it was found there would 
not be time to see the ruins with any degree of 
comfort or profit, and so the idea was abandoned. 

On our return to Cairo we had to attend a State 
Ball at the new palace, which was originally in- 
tended for the Prince and Princess. It was a very 
fine entertainment. Ladies came from Suez, Alex- 
andria, Ismailia, Port Said, and there were special 
trains for all, paid for by the Viceroy. Large 
rooms splendidly illuminated — crowds of people — 
splendid uniforms — gay dresses — Abyssinian Envoys 
— Members of Egyptian Parliament — dancing — 
supper. 

March 5th. — The palace alive from an early 



314 ALEXANDRIA. [chap. 

hour. Every one up at seven. Porters, cavasses, 
and crowds of domestics flitting to and fro, wrang- 
ling in many tongues, and preparing for the Duke's 
departure. Farewell visits — packing up — baksheesh 
giving. The Duke and his party paid their respects 
to the Viceroy, and bade His Highness good-bye, 
with many expressions of thanks for his hospitality. 
Hekekyan Bey, as a parting compliment, gave Lord 
Stafford a turn on his dromedary. 

One pleasure connected with voyaging in Egypt 
is, that there are no hotel bills to settle. There is 
endless baksheesh. People whom one has never 
seen before hover about the doors, and loiter in 
the passages, fitfully muttering the horrible word. 
But the Viceregal hospitality is something more 
than regal, according to standards established in 
less Oriental lands. We started in a special train 
at 3.30. At 9.1 5 in the evening we arrived at 
Alexandria. 

March 6th. — After breakfast, in the Hotel de 
l'Europe, the Viceroy's carriages were announced, 
and there, just as if we had been in Cairo, appeared 
the liveries, horses, and vehicles of the Khedive, 
with a stamp of smartness upon them, in strong 
contrast to the native vehicles in the square. 
After a general leave-taking, in which those excel- 



xti.] THE ARIADNE. 315 

lent Italian servants were as much moved as though 
we had been conferring upon them perpetual bene- 
fits, the cortege rattled through the streets of 
Alexandria, dispersing in its way the hybrid crowd 
which always throngs the centre of the thorough- 
fare, as if in protest against the innovation of the 
pave, down to the jetty, where there was a crowd of 
cavasses. A fourteen-oared barge of the Viceroy's 
lay alongside ; another was ready, if needed. We 
embarked. Hippopotamus Johnny dropt tears as 
fast as do Arabia's trees their medicinal gum. The 
wind was high, and a great gloom sat upon the 
faces of the party as they looked out seawards, 
and beheld the lines of white foam on the bar 
streaking the bright blue sea. All the luggage 
had been sent on board 11 Principe Tommaso. 

First we had to go to the Ariadne to return a 
Marine servant, and visit Captain and officers. During 
the voyage from Trieste the Princess had experienced 
the inconvenience of clinkers — blinding showers of 
sharp, small coal, and hardened soot, blown out 
of the funnel, and falling in clouds, or rather hail, 
on the deck; and as the Ariadne had always head 
winds, the clinkers came aft. Captain Campbell 
was constructing, with fear and trembling, a little 
saloon, or glass-house, on the poop — a fear and 



316 FAREWELL. [chap. 

trembling arising from his apprehensions that 
my Lords of the Admiralty might not approve 
of his tender solicitude, and condemn him in 
costs. 

One was not particularly struck with, the luxury 
of the fittings ; but then we had been wandering 
through the gilded saloons of Viceregal dahabeahs : 
and after a while, a general impression of comfort 
grew upon one, which compensated amply for the 
absence of glass, glitter, and ornament. 

The Duke and his friends were summoned 
by the steam whistle of II Principe Tommaso. 
They cast uneasy glances at the steamer, which was 
rising and falling on the swell with unpleasant 
liveliness. The excellent Italian skipper, Yecchini, 
was delighted at the sight of his passengers, and, 
with excessive civility, lamented that the line was 
so prosperous, the ship was nearly full. 

At last the final leave taking — hand shaking — 
" Good bye," cc God bless you," " Be sure you write " 
— was over, and, leaning over the gunwale in sad 
array, the faces so well known vanished, desponding, 
into white specks, as the gig of the Ariadne took 
Ali Eisa and myself back to shore. In a very 
short time the Prince Thomas was bobbing up 
and down on the blue waves inside the harbour, 



xii.] ALEXANDRIA AT NIGHT. 317 

with a vivacity which gave ominous warning of 
the sprightliness of her motion outside. 

Ah Bey, in spite of momentary despondency, 
managed to make an excellent luncheon on his 
return, interrupted by continual lamentations over 
the necessities which compelled people, naturally 
attached to or attracted by each other, to separate 
so often in this world. Inshallah ! And that is all 
about it. 

Alexandria, out of the great square, has a villanous 
loathsome look about it by night. Groups of men 
scowling at the street corners ; gangs of armed watch- 
men howling frightful challenges ; discordant music 
from dingy dens, where all the nations of the world 
are gambling, drinking, and singing ; a procession 
of scavengers, with buckets and lanterns, crossing 
in and out of the dark alleys towards the sea. In 
the main square, casinos, music halls, and gambling- 
rooms. Alexandria is the New Orleans of the Medi- 
terranean, and I was glad when the theatre was over 
and my companion suggested that it was time to 
return to the hotel. 



CHAPTEE XITI. 



PREPARING FOR PILGRIMAGE. — THE TOURISTS. ALEX- 
ANDRIA TO PORT SAID. JAFFA. 

While the Duke and his party were tossing and 
tumbling on their way to Brindisi, I prepared for a 
little pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was only necessary 
to eliminate articles of useless baggage, and to pro- 
ceed in very light marching order. The occasion was 
tempting. Vessels sail three or four days a week 
from Alexandria for Jaffa and Beyrout. If the sea 
permits a passenger to land at Jaffa, he has only 
thirty-six miles to travel in order to reach the Golden 
City ; but if he be obliged to go on to Beyrout, a 
journey of five days or more separates him from its 
gates. My time was exceedingly limited, because the 
Prince was expected at Cairo by the 20th at latest ; 
indeed, if the flotilla returned swiftly, the Eoyal 
party might be at Cairo four or five days sooner, as 
they had reached "Wady Belfah on the 2nd. 

I engaged Terentio to come with me. He was a 



chap, xiii.] THE TOURISTS AGAIN. 319 

favourite with us all on board the steamer : very good- 
humoured, quick, obliging, speaking many languages, 
a good traveller ; one who had been in America, all 
over Europe, in the East, in Eussia, — who had pene- 
trated far into Siberia. Volatile, and fond of travel, 
he was just the man to make a short expedition go 
off pleasantly. "Terentio," I said, at parting, <c be 
sure to call me at half-past six." — " Si, si, my lord, 
I will be with you at six." — " No," I said, " half- 
past six." Terentio, with an air which signified that 
he thought I was very lazy, and that even five o'clock 
would not be too early, smiled, bade me good night, 
and vanished. 

There was only one drawback. I confess it was 
one. I have no particular prejudice against meeting 
my fellow men en masse, except when they are en 
touriste. The enterprising gentleman who had been 
so diligently following in the traces of Eoyalty, was 
in Alexandria with his party, and was meditating a 
descent upon the Holy Land, where I did not 
want to encounter them. Nay, more. It seemed 
as if he had engaged places in all the steamers 
for all the ports of the Levant. But, making 
inquiry, I discovered that a Eussian steamer — one of 
the Imperial Navigation Company's hue — would sail 
the following morning, and that none of the tourists 



320 WHY DO THEY DO IT? [chap. 

were going in her. I accordingly engaged a passage 
for myself and servant on board the Vesta. 

It would be unfair to criticise a gathering of 
persons who adopt the principle of association in 
order to see foreign countries; and certainly there 
was nothing in the demeanour or appearance of the 
party to provoke unfavourable comment. It is un- 
questionable, nevertheless, that these mass meetings 
are very great nuisances to ordinary travellers. They 
fill hotels inconveniently, they crowd sites which 
ought to be approached in reverential silence with 
a noisy crowd, and they do not tend to inspire the 
natives with a sentiment of respect for our people. 
The very higgling and bargaining which accompany 
their ways make one feel very uncomfortable. There 
was an amusing discussion in the coffee-room of the 
hotel, in which I was an involuntary participator. The 
undertaker of the tourists suggested a difficult alter- 
native. He could not manage Constantinople and 
Athens together, and they must decide on either. 
Those who wanted Athens, and those who desired 
Constantinople, formed two great sects. The argu- 
ments adduced by the champions of each city were 
singularly entertaining; but I believe the classic 
associations of Athens, enforced very much by an 
orator who reminded the party that St. Paul 



xiii.] ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE. 321 

had preached there, and that it might be a good 
place for any zealous Divine to visit with a similar 
object, carried the day. 

The energetic gentleman who has incurred so much 
opprobrium from his organizing tendencies to lead 
ourists all over the world, impressed me with a 
notion that he is an honest out- spoken bustling 
man, with a good deal of tact in business, and con- 
siderable power of management. If what one hears 
be true, he is not likely to pursue his calling long, 
unless he is really anxious to conduct his societies 
about at a loss to himself. That it is a nuisance to 
the ordinary traveller to have his peace broken, to 
have a flood of people poured into a quiet town, to 
have hotels and steamers crammed, to see his pet 
mountain peak crested with bonnets and wideawakes, 
to behold his favourite valley filled up with a flood 
of " mere English, whom no, one knows/' I am not 
prepared to deny ; but what are we to say to " the 
greatest good of the greatest number ? " Let us 
reflect and submit. The people at Alexandria were, 
as far as I could judge, very respectable — it was only 
in the concrete they became disagreeable. Mr. Mon- 
pensier Brown and Miss Clara de Mowbray may be 
capital companions as individuals, in the abstract ; but 
as " Cook's Tourists " they become an aggregate of 

T 



322 THE PROS AND CONS. [chap. 

terrors. There are other bear-leaders who give them- 
selves greater airs, because they charge more ; or, pro- 
perly speaking — for I do not know that the gentle- 
men in question really affect a superiority because 
they charge a few pounds, twenty or thirty, more — 
there are select and smaller groups of tourists who 
speak of the larger sects of peripatetic philosophers in 
a lofty way, for that they pay more money than these 
fellows. But it is really the principle itself that is ob- 
jectionable ; no one can find fault with ten or a dozen 
men clubbing to make a tour, and appointing a leader, 
and making him keep the common purse ; they will, 
at all events, be sure to quarrel. The idea that attaches 
to the associated tourist, however, is that he is a poor, 
weak, helpless sort of creature who cannot get a friend 
to keep him company, who cannot direct his own steps, 
and who is contracted for, and made into money by 
others, surrendering his liberty of action, and consent- 
ing to be amalgamated with people of whom he knows 
nothing, that he may visit strange lands cheaply and 
generally uncomfortably. " Quse regio in terris nostri 
non plena laboris," may these enterprising contractors 
exclaim in a few years, if we are to judge by what we 
hear spoken of. The Eocky Mountains, Japan, the 
Great Wall of China — " rien n'est sacre " from these 
vigorous sappers in the path of travel for the million. 



xiii.] THE RUSSIAN STEAMER. 323 

March 7th. — At 6 I was awake. At half-past 6 
there was no sign of Terentio. Old Hamed came in 
to bid me good-bye, and I immediately seized npon 
him, sent him off to the dragoman for his pass- 
port, and engaged him for the trip to Jerusalem. It 
was 8 o'clock when Terentio, looking very penitent, 
made his appearance. He was, he said, " Stanco ! 
Multo malato ; " and, in fact, he looked as if he had 
spent a very boisterous night ; so I informed him 
that " Hippopotamus John " was to reign in his 
stead. 

The tourists were all en masse in the passages, 
and it was with some difficulty one could get a place 
for breakfast. In came Captain M'Killop to say 
he was going round to Port Said, in the Vice- 
roy's yacht, with the Mehemet Ali in company, and 
to offer me a passage if I was so minded. Not know- 
ing that the Russian was bound to that very port, on 
her way to Jaffa, I rejected the friendly offer, with 
thanks. 

About 1 2 o'clock I was at the Peninsular and 
Oriental wharf, where a pleasant, bright-eyed little 
midshipman, Mr. Graham, was waiting in charge of 
the Commander's gig of the Ariadne, and I went off 
to the Russian steamer Vesta, a screw of 700 tons, built 
by Palmer, of Newcastle. My mind misgave me as 

y 2 



324 IMPERIAL NAVIGATION COMPANY. [chap. 

I gained the deck, for from stem to stern she was 
crowded by a mass of Greek priests, Syrians, Eussians, 
Levantines, squatting in groups, and separated 
by wooden barriers into select societies, with their 
bedding, clothing, provisions, and children in great 
mounds around them. She was very clean below, and 
the cabins very comfortable. The meals were some- 
what light, and in the Eussian style, the caviare and 
tea being excellent. My fellow-passengers were two 
Americans, a Eussian, a German, and two Britons, to 
whom were added, ere we left, a stray tourist who had 
lost his party. 

At about 5 o'clock we were running past the 
Lighthouse, at nine knots an hour. The engineer of 
the steamer, an Englishman, sailed in the steamer 
Calcutta, in which I took my first passage to India, 
now twelve years ago. He is well paid, and tolerably 
contented ; but he says the Eussians are gradually 
educating their own people to do the work, and are 
getting rid of the English and foreign element as fast 
as they can. The officers of this line belong to the 
Eussian Imperial Navy, and the Government can, in 
the event of war, or any similar emergency, avail 
themselves of the whole fleet of about sixty vessels, 
for their own purposes, by the terms of the contract 
with the Company. A curious result of compul- 



xiiT.] WHERE IS IT? 325 

sory service was mentioned to me by one of the 
officers. It may be only true as regards the naval 
sendee, but still it has its influence, and one does not 
see very clearly how it can be limited. When a 
Eussian has completed his term of forced service 
he considers that he has discharged all his obliga- 
tions to the State, and he will not, if he possibly 
can help it, remain a day longer, because he can, 
in most cases, better his condition. This is parti- 
cularly true in Southern and Little Eussia, where 
the increase in commercial enterprise, and the great 
wealth of the farmers, afford much scope for com- 
mercial activity, and the difficulty of retaining ex- 
perienced men is very great. 

March 8th. — Six o'clock in the morning. Hazy ; 
no land in sight ; calm sea. As we had been 
going eight knots during the night, it was obvious 
our course had not been quite correct, for we should 
have been close to Port Said. Hamed, who is a 
great navigator, declares we have missed our course, 
— u ]STo like English sailor these men; Eussians no 
good sailor." There was a talk of currents at 
night, and dangerous reefs, to account for our aber- 
ration ; and we altered our course again and again, 
until at last, about 9 o'clock, there was seen on the 
sea line, dancing in the mirage, what looked like a 



326 PORT SAID. [chap. 

clump of trees — the Arab huts of the settlement 
close to Port Said. 

A few years ago, in the curve of the Pelusian Bay, 
the lone rollers of the Mediterranean broke in on 
the long, low sand-bank, beyond which stretches the 
lagoon we see behind those houses. Now look from 
the deck of your ship as she stands in towards yon 
crowd of masts rising among chimneys of factories, 
roofs, belfry and lighthouse, and you may be par- 
doned if, for a moment, the memory of Yenice 
comes back to you. The great arms which are 
coming forward to meet you from the shore, em- 
brace one of the largest ports in the world. The 
thine seems incredible. Even as the mirage lifts 
and dances away, rapidly reducing the proportions 
of the buildings, which seemed so stately, you are 
astonished and almost incredulous. 

The steamer stood boldly in, ran for the entrance 
by the breakwater, and anchored off the Custom 
House. The place appeared to be as I left it. 
Dredges busy at work, steam barges going to sea 
with loads of up- dredged mud ; and far away over 
the Canal bank, the elevators, to be identified by 
their long arms and by smoke from the chim- 
neys, announced that the great travail was in full 
activity. 



xni.] THE INNER PORT. 327 

The inner port was crowded with small merchant- 
men. Two large steamers and a dozen of ships, 
barks, and brigs, lying outside in the large basin, 
contributed to the air of commercial success which 
astonishes one in this new-born city. 

The French steamer, Tibre, with Mr. Cook's 
tourists, which left before us, was already in the har- 
bour. To see Port Said filled with roving English- 
men was enough to make one to reflect. I went to 
the house of M. de la Roche, the engineer of the 
port. I am sure that all my countrymen who 
have met that gentleman will agree with me that 
a more polished and agreeable representative of 
his nation, or a more enthusiastic exponent of the 
grand idea of the Canal, could not be found. He 
was good enough to despatch a telegram to Cairo, 
to inquire if any news had been received of the 
Prince of Wales. The message first went to Suez, 
and thence was telegraphed to Cairo. In an hour 
I had an answer back. It was that the Prince 
would be back at Cairo upon the 16th. This 
will much shorten my stay at Jerusalem. 

At 4 o'clock the Yesta left Port Said, with a 
small accession to her passengers. The night was 
calm, the wind blowing from the eastward ; so that 
there was every hope of being able to land at Jaffa. 



3.CS JAFFA. [chap. 

March 9th. — A mound of flat-topped white 
houses, with green jalousies, rising tier upon tier, 
almost to a point, on which there is a factory 
chimney and a flag-staff; bright green fields 
around, and then in the distance an undulating 
mountain range ; close at hand, a sea, tumbling, 
with great noise and much outlet of foam, upon 
jagged rocks, and so rolling up to the crumbling 
walls, pierced with embrasures, and mounted with a 
few guns — this is Jaffa. There is no port, and the 
entrance to the narrow belt of smooth water, in 
which a few native vessels are lying, is only to be 
effected through two reefs, between which a channel, 
not more than ten or twelve feet broad, affords a 
precarious approach. 

Our leaving the Vesta was not unattended with 
discomfort and much controversy. The boatmen 
at Jaffa, if not venturesome or skilful, are cer- 
tainly noisy, and somewhat extortionate ; but at 
last we were landed, and were at once surrounded 
by a crowd of guides, dragomen, touters, horse- 
boys, all willing to take charge of the newly- 
arrived passengers, and to conduct them to the 
furthermost ends of the earth. There was a pre- 
tence of a Custom House, where several impostors 
made a show of examining the baggage, and were 



xiii.] HA 31 ED IN THE GATE. 329 

immensely displeased when they were met with a 
resolute "No, no!" to their demand for baksheesh. 
Here was the use of Hamed. In Arabic, Turkish, 
and local dialects, aided by the arm of flesh, he 
struggled with the persecutors, and made his way 
victoriously up a staircase-like street towards the 
upper part of the town. 

There is a fair hotel at Jaffa, kept by a family 
of German Jews, who are exceedingly obliging and 
intelligent. One of the young men was recom- 
mended to me as an excellent dragoman for Syria. 
We had a well cooked breakfast, and some of the 
sweetest little fish possible from the sea close at hand. 

What with looking for horses, and Hamed' s col- 
loquies with friendly dragomen ready to conduct us 
all over the world, it was so late when we got off 
that Captain Poore, of the Ariadne, who joined me 
here, and myself were obliged to be content with 
the prospect of halting at Eamleh Monastery for 
the night. 

When Murray's Hand-Book was revised last year, 
there was only one gate to Jaffa. There are two 
gates now; but surely when the book was issued 
there were more than 5,000 inhabitants? There 
are now, according to the census, 15,000, including 
the population of the bazaar suburb outside the 



330 FORTIFICATIONS. [chap. 

walls. Such, walls as they are ! Very ancient in 
some parts, and very ill-constructed in others, but 
still not so bad as might be expected, from what 
they have gone through. They are of masonry, 
and instead of being defended by a few old guns, 
as our Gruide-Book says, they have very many old 
guns. There is a dry ditch outside the curtain, 
which is here and there broken into bastions, with 
flanking fire along the face, and this defence is 
continued round each side of the town down to 
the sea-front. Gruns in every stage of decay, 
mounted on very ancient carriages, look out of 
tompionless eyes on the stranger, and vary in 
calibre from 31b. to 1 8 lb., but the majority are 
" short sixes," and a rifled 7 -inch shell would 
make short work of the whole of the batteries. 
No one wants to do it now; but Jaffa has sad 
memories of both French and English fire. It is 
a hardy faith which can believe in the relics of 
the house of Simon the Tanner after the ravages 
and bombardments to which the place has been 
exposed from the time of the Crusades down. 

Murray states that the road from Jerusalem to 
Jaffa is one of the most dreary and desolate in 
the world; but assuredly the writer must have 
journeyed during an inclement season of the year, 



xiii.] THE EAMLEH CONVENT. 331 

or on some gloomy day. Now at least, all is 
blooming, and even the rocks are covered with 
olive trees and flowering shrubs, and the air is 
heavy with the scent of many plants. It was a 
delightful ride to Eamleh. Our horses, which 
belonged to Bashi Bazouks, who let them out for 
hire, were fresh and naturally spirited, and went 
capitally. 

The sundown brought with it gathering clouds, 
which gave promise of rain. What would not 
Egypt give for rain in a low Nile? 

Before 7 o'clock at night I was sitting in my little 
cell in the convent of Eamleh, glad of the rest, and 
hungering exceedingly for the meal which the good 
fathers were preparing for us. Cell No. 2, in which 
we were lodged, boasts of three beds : one Captain 
Poore took possession of ; the other a German pilgrim 
upholsterer laid hold of ; and the third was my own. 

A fragment of the tourist party, whic^ had been 
thrown off at Jaffa, had found refuge in the convent. 
An Australian merchant and his wife, a naval 
surgeon and his wife, and a poor sick man shared 
the banquet which was spread in the refectory by 
the good father who w r aited on us, and whom one of 
the ladies regarded with a certain suspicion in her 
Protestant mind, expressed in furtive glances at 



332 FRA GIOVANNI. [chap. 

his dark and handsome face, as if she in some 
way connected him with the Holy Inquisition. 
The wine of Kamleh is certainly not to he 
recommended, and on a meagre day the cooking and 
material demand a good appetite ; hut nevertheless 
it is a very welcome retreat, and he must be a very 
fanatical person indeed who would prefer encamping 
out on the field to the hospitable covering of the 
convent roof, even though he may have to pay a few 
shillings for charity's sake to go to Popish purposes. 

March 10th. — Old Hamed, gliding about the 
mosquito- curtained beds, soon after daybreak this 
morning, roused us to a cup of coffee and a rusk. 

The horses were in the court-yard of the convent, 
the baggage animals already submitting to their 
burdens — for ladies cannot be induced to go to 
Jerusalem without some good effects in clothing; 
and after a little difficulty on the part of the 
gentlemen in starting their helpmates, we bade good 
bye to Father Giovanni, gave him a little baksheesh 
" for the use of the poor and for the love of God," 
and at 7 o'clock issued into the smiling plain which 
lies outside the town of Eamleh, and made our way 
to the road, the line of which was marked in the 
distance by bands of men and women busily en- 
gaged in preparing it for the passage of an "omnibus," 



xiii.] ROAD TO JERUSALEM. 333 

which by this time in all probability is able to 
make regular journeys between Jaffa and the Holy 
City. The road, which is being constructed by the 
Turkish Government, is now in very bad condition- 
in places quite impassable for wheeled vehicles of 
ordinary construction — but there are hopes, as I 
have said, of making it perfectly fair for such traffic 
as may be expected between the sea-coast and the 
capital of Juda?a. 

Outside the town, on a patch of meadow near some 
fine old trees, we passed the tents of a party of 
tourists in charge of their entrepreneur. It was a 
pretty sight to look upon — the smoke of the camp 
fires curling upwards, the movement of horses and 
camels ; but the woe-begone air of several of the 
reverend gentlemen of the party, and the chilly and 
somewhat bedraggled aspect of the ladies, gave one 
the idea that the night had passed rather heavily. 

And indeed this first experience of camping out, 
we heard, was not much relished by those who, lying 
in indifferent bedding on damp grass, had no idea 
how cold the Syrian nights could prove. 

The plain through which the track passes is ex- 
ceedingly rich, well watered, and now covered with 
green crops, with meadows interspersed, in which 
large flocks of cattle were grazing, tended by the 



334 THE ARABS. [chap. 

Syrian shepherd on horseback, with his lance, sword, 
slung firelock, and his waist-belt crammed with pistols ; 
for agriculture in these parts is not a peaceable occu- 
pation, and every man covets his neighbour's flocks 
and herds — most of all the Arab, who, even in recent 
times, hiding in the valleys, or creeping through 
ravines, swooped down upon the plain, carrying off 
the traveller, the caravan, or the cattle within his 
reach. To prevent the constant attacks upon 
the road, which were the fashion, the Turkish 
Government constructed, at intervals of a mile 
or so, solid block-houses of stone, with loop- 
holes and a sort of crenellated battlement at top, 
which are capable of containing ten or twelve men. 
In these, guards of soldiers were constantly main- 
tained, and they served also as places of safety, or of 
refuge, for any pilgrim or wanderer who was menaced 
by the Arab marauders ; but now they seemed to be 
unoccupied. The Government of Turkey has 
succeeded in reducing the Arabs of these parts to 
some sort of order, the principal lever being the sub- 
sidies paid to the chiefs, who are made responsible for 
the conduct of their tribes ; and as the power of the 
chiefs over their followers is in general unbounded, 
the authorities have a just right to render them 
responsible for acts committed within their juris- 



xiii.] TURKISH TRAFFIC-TAKER. 335 

diction. Looking away straight from Karnleh towards 
the East, the eye is arrested, at the distance of some 
ten or twelve miles, by mountain ranges of no great 
altitude, and of irregular rugged outline. These are 
the mountains of Judsea; and nestled amid their arid 
rocks, far away, lies Jerusalem. 

At the entrance to a rocky defile about six miles 
from Ramleh, a small encampment by the road- side 
came in sight. A tent was pitched on a spot of 
green sward, and outside it sat a portly courteous 
Turk in military uniform, smoking his pipe, with 
a scribe at his feet, who took keen note of the 
cortege of travellers ; for the tourists had now spurred 
along the road, and were coming in groups of twos 
and threes, according to the quality of their horses. 
" One Frank on a horse ! one dragoman on a 
pony ! one sais on a horse with baggage ! one 
ass," &c, and there sits and smokes the exemplary 
official day by day, surrounded by his Arab horses 
and his valetaille — a very prince of traffic- takers. 
He was portly, as we could see. He was cour- 
teous, for he saluted each passer-by. At the other 
side of the road, inside an enclosure of rough 
stones, there was a hut composed of logs of 
wood and sods of turf. Outside were some hand- 
somely caparisoned horses, with military saddles 



336 CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE, [chap. 

and holsters, and a body of cavalry to guard the 
traffic-taker; for this little encampment was formed 
to enable the officer to report to Government the 
number of passengers, vehicles, and camels passing 
along the road, in order to ascertain what amount 
may be expected from the tolls which will be 
levied when the road is completed. The hut is 
a rustic coffee-house, where one, if so minded, can 
get water, a stool to sit upon, a cup of coffee, and 
a narghile, and rest in the heat of the day. 

Entering into the defile-like pass through which 
the road now takes its course, sometimes descending 
deep ravines and again striking high along the hill 
sides, but always lying between elevated masses of 
rock, interspersed with patches of green where flocks 
of goats and sheep mingling together are tended 
by armed shepherds, wild-looking and picturesque, 
my friend and I pushed on rapidly till we came out 
on an open plain by the side of a little stream, where 
stands the tomb of a sheik under a grove of shady 
trees. This is Greriet-al-Abooh. A little way off 
lies a large Turkish village, Ludcl, the ancient Dios- 
polis, I think, the most conspicuous object in which 
is the ruin of a noble Christian temple, said to date 
from that indefinite era, the time of " the Crusades." 

"We halted near the tomb, picketed our horses, 



xiii. CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE. 337 

and Hamed coming up produced from his wallet 
two Syrian chickens, about the size of partridges, 
and as hard as wood, a large loaf of excellent bread, 
and a bottle of Jaffa wine. Whilst he was spreading 
the feast we wandered over to the old ruin, passed 
through a vaulted window, and descended into the 
body of the church, which afforded unmistakable 
evidence of being used as a stable and a pen for 
cattle, the stone floor being covered with fetid water 
several inches deep, and heaps of manure. The 
proportions of the building are elegant and noble, 
the masonry of exceeding solidity, thickness, and 
finish; but there is no ornament on the walls, 
blackened by the smoke of shepherds' fires. 
And if guides be right this is the Church of St. 
George, the patron saint of merry England. On our 
return we found a group of children standing round 
Hamed, who offered us water and flowers — dark-eyed, 
fair-complexioned, and pretty, but exceedingly dirty. 
They stood afar whilst we were eating, and it was 
only after grave consultation, and much inspection, 
that they deigned to partake of some of the fruit 
and bread which we sent them. 

After a grateful halt, we continued our journey, 
arousing from their sleep at the shrine of the Sheik 
two pilgrims who lay rolled up in their cloaks, 

z 



333 RECRUITS. [chap. 

basking in the sun, so deeply hidden in the grass 
that we nearly rode over them. Soon afterwards 
a cloud of dust, the glinting of arms, attracted 
our attention, as we cantered along the path, off 
the road -side, in the shelter of a noble grove. 
Presently we passed a sad procession ; twenty or 
thirty peasants, some trailing logs heavily along, 
others with shackles on their wrists, were marching 
two and two, under the escort of a company of 
Turkish infantry, who hemmed them in on the 
flank and rear, with fixed bayonets. Some of them, 
fine resolute looking fellows, smiled or laughed as 
they called out in Arabic to the giaours ; others 
looked desponding and sorrow- stricken. Of course 
they were criminals, going to Jaffa to meet the 
reward of their crimes ? Nothing of the sort. They 
were recruits for the Turkish army, who had been 
just drawn by conscription in the Pashalic, and 
were about to be taken to the port of Jaffa, whence 
they would be shipped for Beyrout or some other 
military town, to enter on the career of arms. 

Conscious of the desire of their riders to make 
the most of their time, the horses continued, with 
unabated spirit, cantering over the rocky road, 
mounting the steep gradients, and galloping impa- 
tient of the rein. Thus we passed guard-house 



xiii.] JER TJ SALEM. 339 

after guard - house, perched on the peaks of the 
rocky ridge, and still there was no sign of the 
Sacred City. At last Blattner, the German pro- 
prietor of one of the hotels at Jerusalem, who 
was riding along to pick up any stray tourists, as 
is "his custom of an afternoon," when the Jaffa 
boat comes in, exclaimed, " When you pass the 
next watch-tower you will see Jerusalem!" And 
so it was. Grlowing in the full glory of the sun, 
for it was now about 3 o'clock, there rose in view, 
at the top of the next hill, the stately form of the 
great Greek Convent, which lies outside the city wall. 
Then, beyond it, the irregular outlines of the city 
itself, backed by long battlemented walls surmounted 
by the dome of the Mosque of the Haran, on 
which the Crescent glittered full in the sunlight. 

Numbers of Eussian pilgrims, men and women, sat 
crouched outside the convent wall, or strode along the 
road — the men poorly clad in fur caps, boots, and 
long greasy ragged frocks — the women in sheepskin 
or fur-lined robes. A little farther on were groups 
of mendicants, clamorous for alms, but scarce deign- 
ing to raise themselves from the dust. The 
road led us right by some fine detached buildings 
lying outside the walls — the almshouses of Sir Moses 
Montefiore, the Armenian Schools, and some small 

z 2 



340 THE JAFFA GATE. [chap. 

private villas, all of the white stone which is so 
plentiful, and which forms the mass of the mountains 
amidst which Jerusalem is perched. Then we came 
to a line of poor-looking shops, coffee-houses, restau- 
rants of various nationalities, with their groups of 
smokers outside, and so to the Jaffa Gate, outside 
which drooped the scarlet flag with white crescent 
which indicates that Jerusalem is in the hand of 
the Turk. 

This gateway is pierced through the solid wall, 
which rises on the right to the height of some 
fifty or sixty feet, and from it, looking straight 
away over a deep ravine - like looking valley, the 
eye rests on Bethlehem afar off, crowning a dark 
hill with its clustering white houses and massive 
convent. A guard of soldiers loitered around the 
gate. The rack of polished arms, and the neatness 
of the men's uniforms, show that a change has 
come over the spirit of the Ottoman soldier. 

Nothing can he more disappointing to the visitor 
than the interior of the city. The narrow streets, 
paved with "blocks polished as glass, pitched irregu- 
larly, as though they had been rained from the skies 
— the poor paltry shops in the irregular streets 
like those in the meaner part of an Oriental bazaar, 
— the pushing, sweltering, unwholesome - looking 



xiii.] INSIDE THE HOLY CITY. 341 

crowd of Jews, Greeks, Syrians, and all sorts of 
Eastern Christians — the noise, uproar, and harsh 
voices, where all ought to be repose and quiet — the 
constant outcries as men pass, heavily laden with 
bales of goods — horses rattling over the pavement, 
and asses with projecting cargoes on their backs, 
squeezing their way through the crowd — odours 
from the foul sewers and from sources nearer at 
hand — the squalid degraded air of the pilgrims — 
combine to produce an effect which at first is a 
violent disillusion, and which afterwards settles 
down into a feeling of repugnance and something 
like indignation. 

Through these narrow streets the Turk, conscious 
of his power, walks, if not majestic, at least com- 
posed and calm. He expects the crowd to make way 
for him. He is monarch of all he surveys ; and if 
he would be only good enough to attend to the 
paving and lighting of the streets, to arrest the pro- 
gress of ruin, to stay the hand of destruction which 
is busy with much that is venerable to all the Chris- 
tian world ; if he would only prevent houses falling 
about one's head, look after drainage and water 
supply — he would be perhaps the best possible man 
to live in Jerusalem ; for sad it is to say, but true, in 
the hands of any one Christian power, or man, it is 



342 TURKS IN POSSESSION. [chap, 

almost certain Jerusalem would annua^y become the 
scene of massacres such as have disgraced its holy 
shrines, in spite of Turkish bayonets and sabres, 
more than once. 

One spot indeed — the Haran or Sacred Enclosure 
— the Moslem protects with a sort of languid care. 
So far, and so far only, he saves from spoliation a 
site full of interest, and containing treasures which 
we hope some day to authenticate and verify. 

The Mahometan actually stays the hands of 
Christian devotees from each other's throats. He 
is the contemptuous guardian of our sacred places, 
and preserves order very much in the spirit which 
actuated the Indian Grovernment to keep the peace at 
the Hindoo festivals. Nowhere is the Turk to be seen 
so polished and so superb as in Jerusalem. He is 
on his mettle. His officers are turned out in better 
style — his soldiers are smarter and better set up — 
his direction of affairs is more direct ; but he lets the 
city go to ruin, and meets every suggestion with a 
non possumus as potent as that of the Vatican. 
They say "no grass grows under the feet of the 
Turk." Practically and physically that is not true, 
for the Mahometan peasantry in many places are 
as sedulous in agriculture as their Christian neigh- 
bours. But as to buildings and towns and cities, it 



xiii.] HOTELS AT JERUSALEM. 343 

may be well asserted that "no stone that falls is 
ever set up again by the Turk." Time revels in 
ruin wherever rules the Mahometan, uninfluenced 
by outward pressure, or by a strong alien reaction. 
Their own holy places are but ill kept, and repara- 
tion is not a custom much in their way. The great 
works at Cairo form no exception to the remark. 
They are executed under the spur of civilized 
views, and the improvements effected in Constanti- 
nople may be fairly ascribed to similar agencies. The 
present Governor of Jerusalem is said to be a man 
of ability, combined with strong vis inertise and 
considerable firmness of belief in his own faith. If 
what we are told be true, it would appear that the 
Porte takes some pains to select good men for the 
administration of affairs in Svria and Palestine. 
The Governor of Damascus is spoken of as a man 
of remarkable force of character ; and Beyrout is 
also in firm hands. All this shows the necessity of 
selecting gentlemen of intelligence, high character, 
and Christian principle to fill the semi-diplomatic 
appointments in the East under the Foreign Office, 
which our consular offices really are. 

The guide who had attached himself to us 
outside, and of whom I have already spoken, 
developed himself as the landlord of the Damascus 



344 A JERUSALEM GUIDE. [chap. 

Hotel. He speaks English well, and finds it worth 
while to ride out and waylay travellers, to bring grist 
to his mill. My companion and myself agreed 
to trust to his house, instead of going to my old 
quarters at the Hospice of the Knights of Saint 
John, which, indeed, I subsequently ascertained, was 
quite full. I regretted we could not stop at the 
Hospice, as it was connected in my mind by a very 
curious memory of some years ago. And so we 
made the best of our way after him over the excru- 
ciating pavement of the narrow crowded street, rather 
tortuous lane, descending rapidly from the gate, with 
our horses clattering, and what in Ireland they call 
"slithering," over the horrible stones. A flight of 
steps led from a by-street to the raised court of the 
Hotel, which had the air of a prison, or, it may be, 
fortalice. But the inside was not uncomfortable. 

There are two hotels at Jerusalem. There is also 
the Hospice of the Knights of Saint John ; and 
there are convents which receive the traveller and the 
pilgrim. 

After a short rest, and a change such as our saddle- 
bags allowed, we set out with a guide, whose 
native tongue was a mystery, to make the best of 
our time. He purported to speak all languages — 
French or Italian for choice — English Number 2 on 



xiii.] MOUNT OF OLIVES. 345 

his list — but from various sources I gathered that he 
reversed the phenomena of the gift of tongues, and 
that, speaking to every man in his own dialect, he was 
understood of none. Still we got on very well. 
Down what tradition calls the Via Dolorosa we 
hurried, skirting the walls of the Haran, and 
meeting only a few strings of pilgrims, till we passed 
through St. Stephen's Grate, whence a stony, rugged 
track, called a road, leads to the Yalley of Kidron, 
100 feet below, and winds up to Mount Olivet, which 
rises on the other side close at hand — the base being 
in fact not more than 150 yards away. There is a 
bridge over the dry bed of what in winter or 
rain-time may be the stream-way of the brook 
Kidron in the Yalley of Jehosophat. We ascended 
by the zig-zag path, which is "the way of the 
wilderness/' taken by David when he fled from 
Absalom, keeping by the walls which enclose on one 
side the Garden of Grethsemane, and on the other 
"the Chapel of the Tomb of the Yirgin," and so 
reached the top, from which a concentrated view lies 
before one of the city and of its environs. It is a 
place for silence. Nearly every spot connected with 
the history of Jerusalem and with the incidents of 
the close of our Lord's life on earth, is near. There, 
with the Citadel rising above it, the English church 



346 GETIISEMANE. [chap. 

and the Armenian convent contending for its posses- 
sion, is the Mount of Zion on the left. Below it is 
the Tomb of David. In front of ns the Haran, 
where Oran the Jebusite threshed out his corn on 
the floor. There is Moriah, on which Abraham built 
the altar to offer up his son Isaac. That path leads 
to Jericho — this to Bethany — there is the road to 
Bethlehem. Turn and look over that weary waste 
of rock, roiling away in rigid waves — you see "the 
Wilderness of Judsea." Mark that gulf near the 
horizon. In its depths the Jordan is pursuing its 
course. And catch that gleam, like the opening of 
a rift, through which comes a glint of blue sky, in 
storm clouds. It is the Dead Sea. There, beyond, 
dwelt the Moabites and Ammonites, and there were 
the people of Gilead. A waste of rocks and stones ! 
But it possesses wonderful beauty at sunset, when it 
abounds in colour and is rich in lights and shadows. 

The evening was falling fast as we halted by the 
"Garden of Gethsemane." This is the "Latin" 
establishment. The Greeks have a garden of their 
own at the other side of the road. The monks have 
surrounded the holy ground with a wall, and the 
gate was locked; but we obtained admission into 
the enclosure, in which are some fine old olive- 
trees, and a few flowers growing wild. Oh, if 



xni.] TOMB OF THE VIRGIN. 347 

there had been only olive-trees and wild flowers ! 
There was our guide, chattering in unintelligible 
jargon. There was a monk, anxious to earn his fe& 
and get rid of us, who, in the horrid fluent intoned 
drawl of his class all over the world, insisted on 
showing' us where the sleeping disciples indented 
the rock with their bodies ; where Judas gave his 
treacherous kiss ; where our Saviour prayed in the 
" Grrotto of the Agony;" where His sweat ran like 
drops of blood, according to the Latin inscription ; 
who insisted, in fact, on destroying every feeling of 
reverence and holy awe the associations of the 
spot would 'have engendered, and in arousing in us' 
a spirit of irritation and unrest. It was with a 
sense of relief I escaped from our cicerone, treasuring 
a handful of the flowers which grew within the 
walls. But alas 1 it was only to be led to the Tomb 
and Chapel of the Virgin, close at hand. The 
building is very picturesque — a quaint irregular 
low frontage of decaying stone, around a subter- 
ranean chapel, in which you are shown the recesses 
in which the father and mother and husband of the 
Virgin are buried — the very grave in the rock in 
which the Virgin's body lay till her Assumption. 
And if you doubt that fact — or, at least, ask for the 
evidence of it — you will see the place where the As- 



348 SHUT OUT. [chap. 

sumption occurred, and trie proof of trie tiling itself 
in a dint on the stone, which was made by the 
cincture which the Virgin dropped, that St. Thomas 
might be induced to believe in the miracle. The 
evening was fast falling, and the darkening shadows 
of the hills had melted away into a uniform twilight, 
through which could be discerned the outlines of the 
city above us, and the white walls of the buildings 
in the Kidron. The young man who had taken us 
under his charge said it was time to leave, as the 
St. Stephen's Grate would soon be closed ; and we 
followed him over the bridge which crosses the 
valley, and were about mounting the zig-zag, when 
a soldier from the heights above shouted out that 
we were too late, and that the gate was already 
shut. There was nothing for it but to skirt the 
side of the valley, and make the circuit of the 
walls all round to the Jaffa Grate. But the walk, 
difficult as it was in the gathering gloom to keep 
our feet amid heaps of rubbish, loose stones, masses 
of masonry, and gravestones, through and over which 
the path wound along the ridge, permitted us to 
get a view of Siloam, Aceldama, and the remark- 
able constructions which are called the Tombs of 
Zacharias, of Absalom, of St. James, and of King 
Jehosophat. 



xiii.] "ROB ROY." 349 

Our guide also pointed out the brand-new chalet 
which a French lady has obtained permission to build 
on a spur of Olivet, not far from the Chapel, of the 
Virgin. One cannot build an old house, and mock 
ruins are in bad taste ; but, somehow or other, this 
pretty edifice looks out of place here. 

It was pitch dark by the time we gained the 
Jaffa Gate, and the people were moving about 
with lanterns in the gloomy street. The effect 
of these lights resembled that of sparks in the 
ashes of paper, and, down the slope of the thorough- 
fare, grew into a nebulous sort of glare, serving 
as a substitute for lamps or moonlight. Hearing, 
after dinner, that " Eob Eoy " was in the other 
hotel, we got on our legs once more, and found 
him relating his recent adventures among the Arabs 
on the shores of Lake Huleh, which he had been 
exploring in his canoe, whilst his dragoman, &c, 
were following his course by the banks. It was 
pleasant to meet an old compagnon de voyage of 
former days in more familiar scenes, and we arranged 
next day for an expedition to Bethlehem, in company 
with Mr. Simpson, the artist, whom I had met 
long ago, in more stirring times, on the plateau 
where Christian soldiers were engaged in fighting the 
battle of the Crescent against the Cross. Some of 



350 JORDAN WATER. [chap. 

the tourists bad found their way to our hotel, and in 
their track, like the vultures which follow an army, 
came the Holy Land varieties of the tribe which 
leaves no corner of the earth unvisited. Without 
any ceremony, one after another, there walked into 
our sitting-room men with bales of curious merchan- 
dise. They had for sale rosaries, napkins, rings, 
paper-knives, crosses, made of olive berries and olive 
wood from Olivet itself. They had necklaces made 
of shells from the shores of the Dead Sea and from 
the banks of the Jordan. One wanted to dispose of 
a bottle of water from the river itself, which, he said, 
" he could get in a moment." (There are deep wells 
and reservoirs in every house.) Some had photo- 
graphs, others had glove -boxes and cabinets of inlaid 
wood, all belonging to sacred places. Judging from 
the number of shops in which such articles are 
displayed, it must be a thriving trade. At last we 
succeeded in escaping, and cleared the room of our 
keen-eyed and persistent invaders, at the cost of a 
few pounds. But I was not so fortunate in my own 
room, for there were torments in the bed-clothes 
which caused me to hear through the watches of the 
night the wild sounding challenges of the Turkish 
sentries and the voices of the watchmen. 

I am about to record a fact — or a series of delu- 



xiii.] A VISION. 351 

sions, as the case may be — which. I may have 
no right to mention in a diary of e very-day travel. 
But as I have ventured to ask you to come out 
of your way and make this visit to Jerusalem, I 
will accomplish the fulness of my transgression, by 
begging of you to listen to a story which arose out 
of the little pilgrimage. It is an experience of one 
who, as far as I know, is not romantic, impression- 
able, or susceptible. Some years ago, a great sorrow 
fell upon him. His wife lay ill, even unto death. 
But in the long struggle which she waged with the 
grim Conqueror, there were such varying incidents 
that, at times, there arose out of the darkness of 
battle gleams of hope which lighted up the stricken 
hearts around the narrow field with rays which 
Science declared to be foolish fires. The man passed 
weeks of suspense, till head and brain yielded to 
the influences of the terror which chilled the heart. 
One night, as he slept in Heaven knows what 
agonized unrest, a vision, which to him was real as 
the day, happened. By the side of his sofa sat 
the sick woman whom he loved. " You are strong," 
she said, " and you love me, I know well. There is 
one thing you can do, and I know it will be well 
with me. In my dreams and waking hours I hear 
for ever a voice which says, ' Let him go to Jerusalem, 



352 A VISION. LCHAP. 

and pray, and you shall be restored/ Promise me 
yon will go, and let ns await the fulfilment of the 
promise which has been given to me." The man 
awoke — and he was so certain he heard the words, 
that he called out his wife's name, and went to her 
room. The nurse said, " The mistress has been very 
uneasy lately, but is now fast asleep." He returned, 
lay down, and slept, or seemed to sleep, till he was 
awakened by a voice which said, " Oh ! keep the 
promise! keep the promise!" This time, starting 
up, he thought he saw a person in a white dress 
leaving the room. He hurried into the passage, 
where a lamp was burning, but there was no 
one visible there or on the staircase ; and on going 
to the sick woman's room, he was told, " She has 
been talking in her sleep till a second ago ; now 
she is breathing softly." He went back, but 
sleep left his eyes till the morning broke, and 
there was no repetition of the vision. Several 
years afterwards the lady died — faded away slowly 
beneath her fatal malady. The incident of the 
dream was quite forgotten ; but, by one of those 
accidents which occur in a wanderer's life, the 
husband found himself inside the walls of Jerusalem 
— fully eight years subsequent to the period of his 
wife's first illness. He was lodged for the night in 



xiit.] A VISION. 353 

a little room or cell, into which fell a ray of light 
from some lantern in the court outside. There 
was a picture of the Virgin on the wall, with a 
lamp burning beneath it — a Virgin like those copies 
of the great picture which are traditional in Russian 
art. He was heated and fatigued after a trying 
ride in a hot sun, and could not sleep ; and the 
better to compose himself he got up and blew out 
the lamp, which left a disagreeable odour in the 
room. He must have been asleep some time, 
judging by his watch, when he was aware that a 
woman in white clothing stood by his side, in a 
strong light, like that of a bright moon. Her face, 
however, was indistinct, as though a thin veil were 
over it. She drew the mosquito curtain aside, and 
a clear voice asked in a reproachful tone, — 

" "Why did you blow out my light ? Is it for this 
you have come so far ? " 

He started up in agitation, and exclaimed, " I will 
light it again !" But the voice said, "Never !" And 
he awoke in darkness, with the mosquito curtain in 
his hand ! It was, of course, a dream — a nightmare 
— his pulse beat with feverish throbs — he rose, went 
to his saddle-bag, and took a sedative potion, which, 
after a time, plunged him into a deep slumber. Out 
of this he was awakened by the appearance of his 



354 A VISION. [chap. xiii. 

wife by his bedside ; a lamp was in her hand, and 
there was in her face and smile some strange likeness 
to the picture on the wall. 

" Oh," she said gently, calling him by his name, 
" how much I thank you for this ! You have kept 
the vow I asked you to make, my dear husband, 
and here I am by your side to assure you that I 
am well and happy, and that I shall never more 
know grief or pain." 

" But, the promise has not been kept to me ! " 
he exclaimed; "you have been taken from me — 
you have gone from us all, though I have come, as 
you asked me, to the foot of the cross." 

She smiled again. 

" No ! I am not gone from you ! I shall now be 
always with you and them. But I must light the 
lamp that you put out." 

He saw her moving towards the picture, and as 
she reached the recess there was a great light in 
the room, and she turned with her face towards 
him, and stood beaming with a glorious radiance, 
and then seemed to be gradually fading into the 
picture on the wall. He awoke and leaped to the 
cold floor. It was a dream ! But the lamp beneath 
the Virgin was burning steadily. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND. THE ROAD. A 

SUSPICIOUS ACCIDENT. THE HARAM. DOME OF THE 

ROCK. BETHLEHEM. DEPARTURE PROM JERUSALEM. 

DEPARTURE PROM RAMLEH. JAFFA. 

So much profound research and learning have 
been bestowed on the topography of Jerusalem 
and of its environs, that it would be superfluous to 
enlarge this narrative by an account of what I saw 
during my short visit to the Holy City. 

The accounts of Lieut. Warren's explorations have 
left nothing unsaid. Every one who has seen the 
works, and is able to appreciate their value, would 
experience deep regret should these labours be 
brought to a close by want of funds. We do little 
in scientific or archaeological research in comparison 
with France or Prussia. But in Palestine we have 
been enabled to obtain a field of the deepest interest, 
which has hitherto been cultivated to great advan- 
tage. If the work be allowed to languish, in a very 
short time no trace of the explorations will be left. 

A a 2 



3 56 THE EXPLORATIONS. [chap. 

There are thousands who do not care in the 
least to learn anything of the earthly Jerusalem, 
the ruins of which must be sought deep beneath 
the debris of centuries. To them the elucidation 
of the Holy City, of the foundations of the Temple, 
of the ancient aqueducts, subterranean passages, 
and grand engineering labours of the Scriptural 
Monarchs would be of little moment. But there 
surely are intelligence, piety, and wealth enough 
in England to enable us to continue the researches 
which promise so fair a harvest. There never will be 
such a chance again. The Turkish Government can 
scarcely be expected to view with favour excavations 
which lead to the foundations of their own sacred 
stronghold in the City, but they cannot well with- 
draw the permission accorded to the present ex- 
plorers, although they see the Haram itself per- 
forated by shafts, and behold cranes, lifts, and 
pulleys at work in the Holy Enclosure of Omar. 
What has been already brought to light pro- 
bably affords imperfect measure of the results 
yet to be obtained. The most important problems 
in Biblical traditions and story, which are keenly 
disputed over head, may be solved by the under- 
ground workers in a few months, and the whole 
scheme of the architecture, of which we can as yet 



xiv.] LIEUT. WARREN. 357 

form very inadequate notions, may be revealed to us. 
Those who have visited Jerusalem know well how 
distressing it is to find " all they know is, nothing 
can be known;" that the weight of doubts and 
uncertainty and contradictory theory rest, almost as 
solidly as the monkish superstructures themselves, on 
every holy site. These doubts may be cleared away to 
a much greater extent than we suppose by careful 
investigation. What if a mass of " traditional" 
Holy Places perish at the touch of ascertained 
facts ! Never fear ; Greek, Latin, Abyssinian, 
Armenian will still hold their own shrines. The 
Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, the holy valleys and 
the sacred hills will endure to the end of time. 
Perhaps, aided or coerced by the discoveries of 
Lieut. Warren, architects and antiquaries may agree 
at last as to the site of the Temple, the authen- 
ticity of the Holy Sepulchre, and of Calvary, and 
the actual position of Mount Zion. The British 
Government gives to the exploration the loan of 
an accomplished officer of Engineers, and of a 
couple of excellent non-commissioned officers and 
a few privates of Sappers and Miners. The works 
are conducted in the most economical manner, 
and all labour with a devotion which cannot be 
inspired by present pay or hope of reward. The 



358 THE ROAD. [chap. 

ease with which Jerusalem, can now be reached will 
attract more visitors every year. It must be ad- 
mitted that there are still desagremens to be faced, 
as where are there not in every land ruled by our 
good friend the Turk? But it should in justice 
be said that the Government of the Sultan is doing 
a good deal (for the Government of the Sultan) 
to ease the path of the Christian pilgrim. There 
is an omnibus to Jerusalem, driven by one of the 
last surviving or staying Americans of the "Jaffa 
Colony." This same road is by no means a 
popular work. I am told, though I cannot vouch 
for it, that the Turkish Government collected 
£50,000 to pay for it, but that it nevertheless 
forces the people to work at very small rates of 
pay. The people take their revenge, bless them ! 
You may see whole gangs of women, girls, and boys 
carrying large stones to one part of the roadway, and 
laying them down. That is so much work done and 
paid for. Then comes another gang, which sets to 
work to pick up the stones and put them back again 
— a Penelope's web of a road-making, in which the 
artful natives squeeze back some of their own money. 

Jerusalem is now filling fast. Some visitors come 
to take part in or to witness scenes which disgrace 
Christianity every Easter ; others to fill in the pro- 



xiv.] A NEW CRUSADE. 359 

gramme of an Eastern tour ; a few actuated by the 
spirit which has led so many weary feet and troubled 
hearts to the city of Zion. The blood-red standard 
with its white star and crescent floats from the 
walls of Jerusalem. Why should the Christian 
world give the Turk a moral victory too ? In this 
contention of sects, in the very city of our Saviour, 
the Mahometan sees a proof of the errors of the 
Christian faith, and finds a proud satisfaction in 
the catholicity of his own. An English nobleman 
of high character and promise was admitted to an 
order of knighthood, one vow of which is, I be- 
lieve, to aid in the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre 
from the Infidel. He may well despair of any 
realization of that object at the present time ; but 
his vast wealth and his influence may at least be 
employed to abate the excesses which turn one of 
the sacred seasons of the Church to which he 
now belongs into a subject of scornful mirth for 
the soldiers of the Sultan. If the Czar, too, could 
learn how much the reputation of Eussia is lowered 
by the acts of the holy hordes of ragged pauperized 
pilgrims who repair here, he would probably find 
means to restrain the fanaticism and improve the 
quality of the yearly exodus. 

A day or two after my arrival there was an incident 



360 A SUSPICIOUS ACCIDENT. [chap. 

which, properly managed in old times, might have 
led to a wholesome war. Three or four clergymen 
belonging to a tourist party were setting out on 
their daily explorations from the hotel, when a stone 
just shaving the head of one of them, fell with a 
crash on the pavement. They looked up. A head 
was seen peering over the roof-ledge. Great agita- 
tion ! ]STo doubt an infidel aimed it who sought 
their blood ! The hotel was aroused, the consul was 
applied to, the Pasha was exercised, the mayor of 
the city and the chief of police set to work, and a 
strict investigation was made. The houses in Jeru- 
salem are flat-roofed, and the inhabitants resort to 
them as play-grounds and places of repose. The 
mansion from which the homicidal stone fell be- 
longed to a Mussulman. It was searched closely, 
but the inmates denied any knowledge of the cir- 
cumstance. No one, they averred, was on the roof 
at the time but a little child, and they declared 
that the child, in leaning over to look at the odd 
men in black coats, who were standing below, book 
in hand, had unintentionally displaced one of the 
loose coping slabs. The opinions of eminent archi- 
tects were taken, the child was rigidly examined, 
and finally the owner was heavily fined for having 
his wall in an insecure condition ; he also was ordered 



xiv.] THE HAIR AM. oOl 

to take down the upper courses and then to have 
them rebuilt, and was generally admonished to be 
more careful in future. What struck me most was 
the solicitude evinced by the Turks to settle the 
affair satisfactorily. I was in the guard-house out- 
side the Haram, waiting for an order of admission, 
during part of the investigation, and was much inte- 
rested in the proceedings of the Turkish equivalent 
of " Lord Mayor," who was as unlike our civic king 
as well could be. Young, slim, fin, and easy, but all 
the time careful to show that he means to have his 
way. Suppose Mrs. Brown's flowerpot fell into the 
courtyard of a Leicester-square hotel, and inspired 
a Beyrout fig-merchant with serious misgivings as 
to Mrs. Brown's intentions, what would be his 
chances of producing an impression on the mind 
of the Lord Mayor, M. Musurus, and the chiefs of 
Scotland-yard on religious grounds? I would have 
remained for the close of the investigation, but that 
the Haram was yet unseen, and time was short. 

It is in the Haram alone we find the holy serenity 
and feeling of repose which Jerusalem should 
inspire. The green sward, the noble trees, the 
solemn silence of the great mosques broken by the 
murmur of prayer or the voices of children, are 
welcome indeed after the turbulence of the street 



362 BOMB OF THE ROCK. [chap. 

outside. But the authorities are almost as bad as 
Deans and Chapters at home, and every place has 
its " price " and its " cicerone " — indeed, the priest 
of the Mosque of Omar did not hesitate to ask a 
very good fee for his polite attentions to our little 
party. 

My servant Hamed, though he has seen the holy 
sites more than once, was very anxious to visit it. 
David, Solomon — these were names sacred to him. 
But travelling along for a good way on the road 
together, we separated at last. His faith and his 
miracles became to me a delusion and fables. And 
yet how he believed ! As we stood in the cave under 
the Dome of the Bock, he struck the side wall with 
his finger — " Mark, master," he said, " how hollow 
it sounds. Do you know the reason ? No ? Well, 
what is over your head is hanging in the air ! It is a 
rock, as you see, and when the Prophet was going 
up to Paradise it flew after him, but the Prophet 
ordered it to stop, and now there it hangs for ever." 

" But it rests on this wall all round it ! It is 
not suspended at all." 

" That is the reason I knocked — to show you the 
wall is not solid. It is put there merely as an 
encouragement. People would never go under the 
great stone if they saw it hanging in the air. And 



xxv.] BETHLEHEM. 363 

so this thin little wall was built up to comfort 
them." 

" And you believe that, Hamed ? " 

Could there be any doubt about the sincerity of 
the reply, and the reproach conveyed in his tone? 
And then he appealed to the stalwart portly Moolah 
of the Temple, who corroborated Hamed' s story, 
and told us many wonders besides. The worst of 
our guide's excessive veneration was that he made no 
effort to relax the regulations in my favour, with 
regard to shoes, and that I had to stand on cold 
marble pavements, and penetrate vaults in "cotton 
feet," till my blood was chilled. 

The brief space occupied by my second visit was 
crowded with incidents, which might bear recording 
were it not that I must hasten back to Egypt to 
describe the journey of the Royal travellers whose 
footsteps we have been following. 

Need it be said that Bethlehem had a day to itself? 
We halted by Rachel's Tomb on the way, and saw 
Jew and Russian contending for place inside, and a 
multitude of pilgrims swarming along the rude paths 
and stony fields to worship — and we passed through 
the ordeal of faith, which is trying indeed when you 
are asked to regard "the star" which marks the spot 
of the Divine birth — to grope, candle in hand, to the 



364 HOLY PLACES. [chap. 

manger in which the Child was laid — to accept, one 
after the other, from a vulgar monk, legends of no 
importance, strung together with vital facts — to have 
the substance of things hoped for put before you in 
hard mortar and metal, and to receive the evidence 
of things not seen in the shape of solid marble and 
carved stone, and engraved plates, the work of men 
in the dark ages of the world. " What people you 
Christians are," said one of our Egyptian friends, who 
had no particular reverence for his own faith, "to 
leave your Mecca in the hands of unbelievers ! We 
would all die before our Mecca was ruled by any 
Christian power." To my mind, the control of 
Jerusalem by Russian priests could not very much, 
if at all, better the position of other Christians in 
respect to the holy places, and there appear to our 
dim vision no signs of the advent of the original 
owners — or, more properly speaking, of the conquer- 
ing race which held the Holy City so long, and 
which still regards it as the seat of its power, the 
centre of its aspirations, and the coming capital 
of its resuscitated kingdom. 

At 12 o'clock on Friday I set out on my return 
to Jaffa, having spent the morning and forenoon 
in exploring the excavations in company with 
Lieut. Warren. We procured through his assistance 



xiv.] DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 3G5 

an order from the Governor to pass the gates, which 
are closed on the Mahometan Sabbath till the 
afternoon ; Mr. Noel Moore, the Consul, whom we 
found very willing to oblige, stated that he was not 
able to procure the needed permission. I rather 
think there is a want of sympathy between the 
Consul and Lieut. Warren, but on whose side the 
fault — and it is a fault, that two English gentle- 
men, one serving the Crown, and the other engaged 
in a most interesting work, should not co-operate 
and work to the same end — may be, I should be 
unwilling to investigate. There was a clamorous 
crowd of pilgrims outside, who sought to rush in 
as the gate was opened. The unceremonious yet 
good-humoured way in which the Turkish soldiers 
kept them back with their muskets, had an immense 
spice of contempt in it, and an ugly feeling is, doubt- 
less, kept alive in the hearts of the Russians, at 
all events, who look with no amiable eyes on the 
guardians of Jerusalem. The ride back, in spite 01 
the sun, was very agreeable. More than ever did 
I differ from the writer who describes the road 
as being gloomy. The hill-sides were ablaze with 
flowers — partridges and pigeons, much harassed by 
hawks, abounded along the path — and buntings and 
fly-catchers and mountain-thrushes flitted among the 



3 G 6 A N jENTEUSIA ST. [chap. 

bushes — one a species quite new to me, and very 
pretty. There were no travellers to associate with 
or to shun, on our way to Eamleh, and the only 
persons we overtook or encountered were camel- 
drivers and itinerant native merchants, with pack- 
mules and horses. Our horses were not so good 
as those which we had ridden from Jaffa, and 
it was quite dark before we reached the Convent, 
to which we made our way with some difficulty. 
The journey was long, the road dusty, and the 
shelter at last was very welcome. 

Next morning Fra Giovanni brings in coffee and 
milk, which, with the chunk of bread before us, con- 
stitute our breakfast. What fatness there must be 
in the air, for the entertainment is enough ! Poore 
and I are the sole roysterers at first, but presently 
there enters a tall, stout, spectacled young French- 
man, whom I remember to have seen at Jaffa. I 
confess to being somewhat Americanized in my ways, 
so I begin to talk to him ; and he says — this great 
G-aul — that he has been much pleased with Jaffa, 
where he has been staying ever since I met him. 

" Indeed ! What on earth is there to see there 
after you have gone round the walks, and looked 
at the place where Simon the tanner's house once 
stood ?" 



xiv.] DEPARTURE FROM RAMLEIL 3G7 

" Well, I am a naturalist, and I have been 
so happy as to have found two very rare objects 
— one of which is, I think, unique." 

Here is a man who can tell me about my strange 
bird, and so I launch out at once. 

Ab ille — "Pardon, Monsieur! Je ne connais pas 
rornithologie de tout." — "Mais vous etes natur- 
alist e." — " Oui, mais je suis naturaliste dans un sens 
tres reserve. Je n'etude que des coleopteres." 

And that fine young fellow was wandering over 
the Holy Land in search of "beetles!" May his pil- 
grimage be successful, and may many shining wing- 
sheaths be added to the list by the intrepid pelerin. 
It was not far from 7 o'clock when we took leave 
of good Fra Giovanni, and as I rode away I could 
not help thinking of the time when, long hence, if 
the promise of vitality in his clear bright eye and 
vigorous frame be not falsified, death must come 
on him in his little cell, after a life of servitude. 
No friend, nor mother, nor sister, nor brother, nor 
child beside him — and perhaps all the happier for 
that some of these be absent. Such men are the 
fossils of the world — they tell of ages of faith 
gone by, and of old heart and soul and mind for- 
mations now stratified under the pressure of the 
festering mass of modern civilization. As we issued 



3 6 S RAUL EH MENDICANTS. [chap. 

out of the gate of the Convent, there arose a wail 
from beneath the barrier of prickly pear which 
fences the narrow path ; and there sat a row of the 
lame, the blind, and the old, with pannikins, and 
sacks, and porringers, waiting for their morning 
meal, and not at all indifferent to the chance of 
exoteric alms from the outgoing stranger. ""Where 
is the Mendicity Society ? "Where is the relieving 
officer ? " He is not about. The wretches will have 
a meal without any oakum-picking sauce to relish 
it. A few pence contents them, and the blind, and 
halt, and aged unite in a common chorus, and invoke 
blessings, which it will need much political economy 
to turn into curses, I can assure you. What a 
glorious morning ! How fresh and sweet the air — 
how delightful the trill of the crested lark as he 
tries, in vain, to rise to the height of the great 
musical argument of his European rival! Listen to 
the song afar off of the peasants as they drive then- 
herds to the pasture, and the laughing of the veiled 
girls as they stalk — for they do not walk — pitcher 
on head, fuH-limbed Caryatides, to draw water from 
the wells ! See the fair far spread of green rolling 
away westwards to Jaffa, and grumble exceedingly 
that you must keep to a hideous belt of stones 
and rubbish called a road, for you cannot in 



xiv.] BASH I BAZOUKS. 369 

decency ride over the young wheat. Far and near 
camels are ploughing their way through tracks in 
the fields, like battle-ships in line ; and here and 
there pulks of Bashi Bazouks, who wander over the 
land as flies sweep over flower-beds, pass up or down, 
bepistolled, and belanced, and besworded. These are 
the locusts that devour the land, but they are sent by 
the rulers thereof. Nevertheless these irregulars are 
useful in their generation, as they are the patrols of 
the road, the guardians of the traveller, and the terror 
of the Bedaween, to whom they are the very per- 
fection of armed force. They are also going to levy 
taxes, or they have levied taxes. It used to be said 
that an Englishman was taxed from the time he was 
put into swaddling clothes till he was laid in his 
grave; but the Turk is not so easily satisfied. Imagine 
the system of making a peasant pay the moment he 
plants an olive-tree, although it will be some years 
before it bears fruit, and say if it is not quite a 
wonder that there are any olive-trees planted at all. 
But that is only a chip of the whole block. 

The plain from Bamleh to the very outskirts of 
Jaffa — a ride of two hours and a half — teems with 
life. There is a marshy stream on the left of the road 
journeying westward, which contributes to the' fat- 
ness of the plain, and the sands which peer here and 

B B 



370 GARDENS OF JAFFA. [chap. 

there from curling ridges to spy out the weak points 
of the land may well despair of a triumph over the 
bearded glory of the waving crops. The six or 
seven miles' quiet amble is over at last, and before us 
lies the deep fringe of green speckled with gold, 
which, seamed and girt in by hedges of prickly pear, 
fences Jaffa from the fields, and denotes the limits of 
its exquisite orange groves. One must see to believe 
the richness and fulness of the golden harvest which 
now hangs from the miniature forest. The air is 
heavy with the perfume of the groves. In some 
spots the bright yellow fairly scares the green 
away. Inside the fences we hear the joyous cries 
of the fruit-pickers as they fill their baskets. In 
and out of these groves twitter many birds — no 
thrushes or blackbirds, but goldfinches and chaf- 
finches on the border hedges, fly-catchers and red- 
headed buntings flock on the branches inside, and 
kestrels and merlins hover above. The orange- 
groves extend to the very walls of the town, and 
fight with the reed sheds of the external Bazaar 
for the use of the land. The oranges are enor- 
mous, too large to be very delicate, but still very 
juicy. For about 32s. you can buy 1,500 of them, 
but the choice fruit come to nearly a halfpenny each 
if gathered by hand from the finest trees. Jaffa and 



xit.] STREETS OF JAFFA. 371 

its cone-like gathering of houses rises in front with 
a section like that of a low pyramid from which the 
external casing has been removed, so as to expose the 
layers of masonry ; for these flat-roofed houses from 
afar look like courses of irregular blocks, gradually di- 
minishing in breadth, one after another, up to a point 
at the crest of the hill on which the town is built. 

It would not be difficult to fill a few chapters, 
with Jaffa as a peg to hang them upon. Tou may 
write a good deal about the building of the Temple. 
The voyage of Jonah, the sojourn of Peter, the 
doings of Crusaders and Saracens, would furnish 
texts for a chapter each. Mr. Murray's Gruide-book 
has an account of the massacre of the Turkish gar- 
rison by Xapoleon there, quite apropos of boots. 
But, alas ! for the casual itinerant who is compelled 
to munch his thistle there for a longer time than he 
bargained for, and who cannot feed fat on reverie, and 
feast on the cobwebs of the brain ! If he be an active, 
stirring realist, content with the observation of the 
strange life around him, he may rest content. I 
have wandered a good deal about the town, but 
I am obliged to admit I never hit on the principal 
street. I was always getting near it, but some- 
how it lay undiscovered, and all I could do was 
to wind in and out in the labyrinth of degraded 

B b 2 



372 THE CONSULAR AGENT. [chap. xiv. 

lanes, till I came to the little gate in the decrepit 
wall, arrived at the one open space at the end of the 
bazaar, and debouched upon the same old fountain. 

Two mortal days and nights in Jaffa exhaust 
more than the sights and interest of the ancient 
city, although the Consular Agent, Habeeb Kyat — 
an agreeable Levantine, educated in England, the 
well read, companionable, and obliging son of a very 
worthy father who did England service, of which 
Lord Palmers ton was not unmindful when the " Civis 
Romanus sum" doctrine was in fashion — did his best 
to make the time pass pleasantly. 

Whether anything will ever be done by the Turks 
to make Jaffa accessible in any weather but a dead 
calm it is hard to say. But it is the natural port of 
Jerusalem — a ride of eleven hours brings one from 
the beach to the City of David. The rocks which 
now form a rude harbour for boats could scarcely be 
turned to good account, but to an inexperienced eye 
there appear to be good foundations laid by nature 
for a pier and breakwater. "With all its drawbacks 
the little port sends out more than £400,000 worth 
of cotton, fruit, oil, and sesame seeds every year, and 
it would pay the Porte well if a protection from the 
surf were formed inside the present roadstead. 



CHAPTER XV. 



departure from jaffa— port said once more. 

the khedive's arrival. — borrowed plumes. — the 
khedive's ball. — sir samuel baker bey. 

On Monday morning at 6 o'clock, just *as Mr. 
Cook's tourists hove in sight, the French steamer 
Scamandre anchored off the port, and we hurried 
on board to breakfast ; but the steward was a sharp 
fellow. The fare to Port Said is about £3, pro- 
visions included. As we had not slept on board, 
he charged us four francs each for a very poor 
meal. I ate my dinner in company with the ship's 
officers. One of these had the spirit to complain 
to the cook afterwards. 

" Mon diner a moi — c'etait une salade, Monsieur 
Henri! Yoila tout ! " 

"Mais, M'sieur Paul, vous avez eu des becasses!" 

" Des bec-cass-sses ? " — I never heard so many 
"s"es in a word before — "vous osez dire que " 

It was too much. He burst into a sardonic laugh, 
which so affected the cook, that he instantly dashed 
over a plate of fat in the galley, and nearly set it 



374 jr UNA WA YS. [chap. 

on fire. In addition to the woodcocks — let us sup- 
pose they were so, and not decomposed sand-larks — it 
should be allowed that we had slices of a prodigious 
fish which I saw hauled over the side on a line. It 
had immense scales, a monstrous head, weighed 
seventy pounds, and was as dry as a chip. It 
figured on the menu, "Poisson — Phaon de mer — 
sauce d'anchois." What we did all day at anchor 
I know* not, but it was better to be on board the 
Scamandre than on shore, and there was certainly 
something to study on our decks. 

All day, and all night, if needs be, one may hear 
how slavery dwells no more in the land of Egypt — 
how any man or woman, boy or girl, held in bondage, 
has only to go to a police station and demand 
freedom, and straightway freedom is given to him or 
to her ; how the law sets free, by the action of time, 
every bondman or bondwoman after seven years' 
servitude. In other words, if what we heard be true, 
there can be no involuntary servitude in Egypt. 
Now, in the waist of the Scamandre, between the 
main and foremast, crouched under the bulwarks 
there is a group of human beings — pace great men 
like Nott and Grliddon, and other anthropologists 
and slavery apologists — human beings, certainly — 
which arrests attention. A woman that must be, 



xv.] THE SLAVES' RETURN. 375 

with her head so covered in her white rohe that only 
one eye — Chinese-lidded, but full and soft — can be 
seen, outside the circle formed of six " black fel- 
lows," all in white too, who are sunning themselves 
vacantly, or chattering in chicken-like chorus, as 
something occurs to excite their wonder on board the 
ship. They are young — the eldest not twenty, the 
youngest perhaps fourteen — tall, and thin-legged, 
and broad chested, some of them of pure Ethiopian 
beauty and liveliness, others ugly and " cowed," the 
handsomest in my eyes being the fellow there, 
whose lips project far beyond his nose, and whose 
nose is nevertheless in advance of his forehead — a 
marvel of blackness and brightness, with teeth whiter 
than any snow, and with eyes gleaming out with the 
pure animal light of those of the wild deer. Beside 
them, a little apart, with chains on arms and 
legs much vexing him in his efforts to chase and 
exterminate enemies of his repose, there is stretched 
on .the deck a placid-looking Bedawy . Their story is 
this. These men are " runaway slaves." They have 
made their way from Cairo to Jerusalem in search of 
freedom or of adventure, and there the telegraph 
discovered them, and now they are going back, 
under charge of that cavass who is smoking a cigar- 
ette on the combing of the hatchway, to their old 



376 A RUBE JOKE. [chap. 

masters. The Turkish Government gives them up 
willingly, and the Egyptian Government pays the 
expenses which, some way or other, will be taken out 
of those black carcasses in meal or malt. But the 
Bedaw}^ ? " Oh, he is a man who was passing by 
when the cavasses caught the fellows, and, just by 
way of a joke, he says, they swore he had stolen and 
sold them, and now he is going off to answer the 
charge." " True or false ? " " Yes! certainly. That's 
the way when you are not rich here." It seems the 
slaves often run away to the works on the Suez Canal ; 
there they become disgusted with the hard labour, 
and off they fly again over the desert to Africa, 
or Asia, or anywhere. " And who is the woman ? " 
" She is a slave girl, too. She ran away from Cairo 
after one of the fellows that she is in love with/' 
At 5 o'clock we weighed and stood to the westward, 
March 16th. — Approaching Port Said at 8 o'clock; 
sea calm, bright morning. Steam dredges going out 
to sea with barges to deposit the sand dredged from 
the inside. Could discover through the glass that 
the town was pavoise — shipping dressed with flags, 
steeples and lighthouse gay with streamers. When 
a little way off, slowed the engines and approached 
the entrance very cautiously. The buoyed channel, 
which lies between the two jetties forming the 



xv.] TORT SAID ONCE MORE. 377 

harbour, was, I observed, not more than three times 
the breadth of the Scamandre. It runs about 300 
yards from the western pier, and two vessels could 
scarcely pass each other at present unless carefully 
steered under steam. 

The streets, which rise little above the level of 
the water of the harbour, were ornamented by lines 
of coloured posts, from which were suspended 
streamers and garlands, and every house was gay 
with bunting. All the population had turned out 
by the water's edge. The Office of Health, the 
Custom House, the buildings belonging to the 
Suez Canal Company, were tricked out in the very 
brightest of colours, and as the steamer passed 
slowly along the wharf, it could be seen that pre- 
parations for a grand illumination had been made, 
and one read on the facade of the buildings — 
" Yive Ismail, Premier Khedive d'Egypte." The 
unusual gaiety, combined with the appearance of 
a fine Egj^ptian corvette and a noble yacht, with 
the Viceroy's standard, lying in the port, which was 
more crowded with vessels than usual, made everyone 
on board suppose the Prince and Princess of Wales 
had already arrived. 

My only object in landing at Port Said was to 
procure from M. de la Eoche a boat to Ismailia, 



378 THE KHEDIVE'S ARRIVAL. [chap. 

whence I could take the train to Cairo, and so 
arrive in time to anticipate the coming of the Prince. 
Now my hopes were dashed to the ground, for on 
such an occasion it was not likely a spare boat was 
to be had. The Scamandre would not leave till 4 
o'clock. She would not reach Alexandria till the 
following day, probably too late for the morning 
train ; and so it seemed as if the steps I had taken 
to ensure a speedy return would lead to an opposite 
result. 

I landed, and took Hamed along with me, to see 
what could be done, as soon as the Health Officers 
would permit. All the officers of the Company 
were out, of course. Every room in the hotels and 
restaurants was engaged for the expected company. 

Presently there was a tremendous commotion in 
the town — »cries of " He is coming ! " — people run- 
ning — and looking over the banks which mark the 
course of the Canal through Lake Menzaleh, the 
smoke of the approaching steamers could be made 
out through the dancing haze of the mirage, and in 
a few moments more, the guns of the Mehemet Ali 
shook every house, and gave plenty of work to the 
glaziers of Port Said. The ships manned yards, the 
marines turned out on the poop, the bands struck up 
the Egyptian national air, the people cheered, as 



xv.] THE POPULAR RECEPTION. 379 

the Mathilde and some half-dozen of M. de Lesseps' 
high-pressure steam flotilla, crowded with ladies and 
with gentlemen, conspicuous amongst whom was 
Ismail Pasha, surrounded by his ministers, emerged 
gloriously from the narrow aperture of the Canal. 
The little steamer slid gracefully into the inner 
port. The Pasha landed and was received at the 
workshops of the Company, which were burnished up 
and decorated. Fifty or sixty cavasses, and a large 
number of officers in uniform, formed a procession, 
and preceded the open carriage, the sole wheeled 
vehicle in the place, in which the Viceroy, attended 
by M. de Lesseps, drove through the town. He has 
come in state and with a great retinue. Three 
battalions of infantry and a couple of squadrons of 
cavalry were sent on to furnish guards of honour, 
and were encamped on the Desert in which the Vice- 
regal chalet is built, about three miles and a half 
from Tsmailia. 

What a power there must be in Eoyalty, when 
even a Viceroy exercises such a magic influence over 
people ! Here was a man, whom the Egyptians must 
know only as the originator of conscriptions and 
taxations, and yet the whole population — men, 
women, and children — deserted the Arab town 
outside Port Said, and came in to gaze upon their 



3S0 THE RESTAURANT. [chap. 

ruler ! The women, usually so apathetic, seemed 
quite delighted and excited. Their eyes flashed over 
their yashmaks ; they held their children aloft in the 
air to look at the Khedive ; and, when he passed, they 
commenced laughing and chattering in the greatest 
possible happiness, disregarding the shoving and 
violence of the cavasses, and of the rude labourers 
who pressed after the cortege. It was interesting 
to behold these wild Arabs and fellah women, dressed 
in their best, gold ear-rings and necklaces and 
ornaments put on for the occasion, commingled 
with the Levantine and Trench ladies, who, dressed 
in their Parisian best, had come to look at the spec- 
tacle. Port Said was fairly deranged, and every 
shopkeeper seemed to think that his fortune was 
made. 

In the midst of the tomasha, I met Captain 
M'Killop, and was taken to the friendly refuge of 
a large room with a billiard-table, which serves as 
the Club-house of Port Said. I stood in the door- 
way as the procession went by. A friendly and 
garrulous Frenchman, who chucked the Arab women 
under the chin, winked at his own countrywomen, 
and seemed to know every one, and have a word 
for all passers-by, led me to a restaurant, where 
he insisted on my getting dinner served at my own 



xv.] B OUR WED PL UMES. 381 

hour, although the proprietor declared that I should 
wait till the set hour of the table-d'hote. 

As I sat in the restaurant, where the dinner 
really justified the commendations of my club-made 
acquaintance, in hurried my excellent friend M. de 
la Eoche. The Viceroy has a keen eye. He had 
made me out in the crowd, and commissioned M. 
de Lesseps to invite me to the State dinner, which 
was to be followed by a ball, on board the Vice- 
regal yacht. All my property lay in a small bag, 
and consisted of a change of riding suits. In vain 
I represented that " I had no clothes/' " I will lend 
you a coat," insisted M. de la Eoche; "you really 
must come."—" Well, what about a waistcoat ? " — 
" I can give you that too." — " Well, as to trou- 
sers?" M. de la Eoche is slim and some six feet 
high: in his most hopeful mood he could not fancy 
his nether garments were adapted to my proportions. 
His heart failed him, and he smiled. " Never mind, 
we will get them somewhere, and you must not 
refuse the Viceroy." I was carried off on board 
the Maharoussah, with a coat belonging to M. 

L , a shirt of M. M , a waistcoat of M. 

, pantaloons belonging to Captain M'Killop 

(eventually exchanged for a pair belonging to one 
of the Viceroy's suite, as the others gave way incon- 



382 THE KHEDIVE'S BALL. [chap. 

tinently when I stooped to pick up a fan) ; and as 
I stood, reflected in innumerable mirrors on all 
sides, in that wonderful saloon, I would have given 
a good deal indeed, not for the earth to open and 
swallow me, but for access to my own portmanteau 
at Cairo. 

The scene presented at night by the vessels in 
the port, all ablaze with lanterns and lights, and by 
the lines of streets marked by illuminations, would 
have startled an old denizen of the Desert re- 
turning after a five years' wandering to his sand- 
bank by the side of Lake Menzaleh. 

The Maharoussah is the finest yacht in the world, 
and there was room and to spare for all comers, 
although Alexandria, Cairo, Ismailia, Suez sent their 
contingents. The ball was magnificent. But one 
recognized the same faces — the buccse bene notse 
oppido. How can it be otherwise, as long as the 
women of the country are debarred from appearing 
in public, and must submit to have their place in 
society occupied by strangers? A good band to 
play — a state supper with never-failing supplies of 
hot dishes, ices, wines, sweetmeats — an excellent floor 
to dance upon — the happiness of the fair colonists 
would have been complete if there had been a few 
young eligibles. But an Egyptian gentleman is not 



xy.] THE KHEDIVE'S EEF0RM8. 383 

generally regarded as being en disponibilite. He does 
not dance. 

It will be years before the Egyptians learn the les- 
son which, with much caution, the Yiceroy desires to 
teach them. He is meditating many reforms, but 
it is startling to his subjects to see the ladies 
of the harem, although veiled and screened, in 
English carriages, driven by coachmen in top-boots 
and knee-breeches. If he ever carries out his project 
of introducing the ladies at a Court Ball, it will be 
little short of a social revolution. The people will 
be as much shocked as if they were so many 
village maidens suddenly presented with the pre- 
amble to a pantomime in a London theatre. 

Before we retired at night the Yiceroy informed me 
that the Prince and Princess would be back in Cairo 
next day, and that he would return to meet them, 
instead of going on to Suez as he had intended. 

His Highness said he was much gratified and 
astonished by the Canal. But he has some uneasi- 
ness as to the future of the undertaking, and there 
are certainly grave questions yet to be settled in 
reference to its international character. 

Next day the Viceroy travelled by the Canal 
to Ismailia, which was as gay, quaint, and pretty as 
taste, and flags, and fancy lamps and lanterns, and 



384 SIB SAMUEL BAKER BEY. [chap, 

feastings could make it. I attended a charming 
little bal costume at M. Voisin's house, after a 
grand dinner which was given in the chalet of 
M. de Lesseps to all the visitors and officers of 
the Suez Canal Company. 

At the ball His Highness, in the course of 
conversation, communicated his idea of nominating 
Sir S. Baker to take command of a force for the 
suppression of the slave trade on the White Nile, 
and the establishment of order in the Soudan. 
He had spoken with Sir Samuel on the subject, 
but seemed to be in doubt as to the propriety or 
likelihood of success of the step. No one could 
hesitate in approving of a measure dictated by a 
generous and enlightened policy and in a country 
to which France generally lends ideas and agencies 
in every department of administration, the choice of 
an enterprising English traveller, who had shown 
conduct and courage in his difficult explorations, 
was peculiarly gratifying.* 

At 7 o'clock the following morning (March 18th) 
Ismail Pasha went down the Canal to the entrance 
of the Bitter Lakes, and inaugurated the lifting 
of the sluices to let in the waters of the Mediter- 

* The final arrangement was entirely due to the Prince of Wales, 
who highly approved of the expedition, and suggested the conditions of 
service which the Viceroy proposed to Sir Samuel Baker. 



xv.] A SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT. 385 

ranean, a function which* we understood would have 
been reserved for the visit of the Prince of Wales. 
A special train conveyed the Viceroy and his suite 
to Cairo, which we reached at 5 o'clock. On ap- 
proaching the city a detonation was heard. It 
sounded like a distant gun, and I took it to be a 
cannon fired from the Citadel, but we were told 
afterwards that an infernal machine, which had 
the appearance of a fog-signal, had exploded ; and as 
two servants of a banished Pasha, related to the 
Viceroy, were seen near the line, the idea gained 
hold of the authorities that some serious attempt 
had been made against Ismail Pasha's life. A more 
silly person or a more stupid design could not well 
be imagined — to blow up a train by a fog-signal ! 
If the Viceroy felt any uneasiness, there was no- 
thing in his manner to evince it, and he was not, 
perhaps, as much disturbed by the incident as the 
persons of his Court, although he evidently believed 
in the evil design. 



c c 



CHAPTEE XYI. 

THE VOYAGE TO THE SECOND CATARACT.— A CROCODILE 

AT LAST. ABOU-SIMBEL. WADY HALEEH. THE 

DERELICT BOY. RETURN TOWARDS CAIRO. ARRIVAL 

AT PHIL.E. DEPARTURE EROM ASSOUAN. ARRI- 
VAL AT THEBES. VISIT TO PYRAMIDS. VISITS IN 

CAIRO. 

I resume now the proper course of my narrative, 
to depart from it no more ; and I will ask you to 
return to the spot near the Island of Philse, above 
the First Cataract, from which the Prince and 
Princess set out (February 23rd) to ascend the river 
to the Second Cataract. At half-past 2 o'clock, as 
we saw, the Eoyal flotilla started, the dahabeahs 
being lashed to and towed by steamers. Tempera- 
ture 99° on deck in the shade, and 98° in the lower 
cabin. At 4.30 p.m. the flotilla stopped at Jabotch 
Kebr, and the party which went out fishing saw 
traces of two crocodiles in the sand. What was 
more remarkable, they actually succeeded in get- 



chap, xvi.] CROCODILES IN SIGHT. 387 

ting some fish in their net. The crocodiles 5 traces, 
however, made a great sensation on board. At 
6 o'clock the next morning (February 24th) every 
one was up. The Prince went, with Sir Samuel 
Baker, off to the sand-bank where the crocodiles 
had been lying. The marks of three beasts 
could be plainly made out in the soft sand, but 
the makers could not be seen in any direction. A 
fishing party was more successful, and in one haul 
twenty-two fish, of sorts mostly " nabisch," were 
taken, weighing on an average four pounds each. 
At 11 a.m. the flotilla proceeded. People, black 
and half naked, ran away, scared from their hunt 
after empty bottles by the whistle of the steamer. 
One important person made his appearance, a 
"Professor of crocodile -finding," who came on 
board, and promised to make things very pleasant 
for the sportsmen. They proceeded on their 
course, however, without doing anything to justify 
his promises, and halted by the bank for the night. 
At half-past 3 o'clock next day (February 25th), 
a very large crocodile was made out basking in the 
sun on a sand-bank ahead. The steamer stopped, 
the Prince and Sir Samuel Baker got into the boat, 
and were rowed cautiously ashore, and as they were 
crouching under the bank, another very large croco- 



388 HYJENAS. [chap. 

dile was seen. However, the reptiles were wide 
awake, and before the stalkers got within 150 yards 
of them they slipped gently into the water and dis- 
appeared. The Prince and Sir Samuel remained 
on the bank sweltering in the heat till sunset, but 
the crocodiles did not show again. After dinner, 
the Prince, Sir S. Baker, Lord Carington, Prince 
Louis of Battenberg, Mr. Montagu, and Mr. Brierly 
went on shore to try their fortune with hyaenas 
by moonlight. They were posted at different places, 
each with a lump of decaying meat as a bait. The 
Prince was fortunate enough te see a hyaena, 
but ere he could raise his rifle a gabbling native 
huntsman frightened it, and the beast vanished. 
On the 26th of February the party reached 
Korosko, half way from Philse to Wady Half eh. 
Here the road strikes across the Desert to the great 
bend of the Nile ; Aboo-Hamed, and caravans from 
the upper country, with ivory, gums, ostrich 
feathers, &c, come here to float down their cargoes 
to Cairo. One of these, encamped on the bank of 
the river, interested the Prince and Princess very 
much. 

At half-past 5 o'clock, on the 27th of February, 
the fleet got under weigh and left Korosko, pass- 
ing Derr, the capital of Nubia, at half-past 



xvi.] WAITING IN VAIN. 389 

10 o'clock. Somehow or other, the native crocodile 
hunter was led to think he was in danger if he 
remained any longer, for he disappeared from the 
ship early this morning. Perhaps he feared being 
made responsible for bad sport. The sportsmen saw 
three crocodiles basking on the sand, which allowed 
the steamer to pass without taking to the water. 
The vessel stopped a mile or so above them. The 
Prince and all the men dropped down in boats, and 
landed on the bank. One of the crocodiles im- 
mediately took to the water. The other two re- 
mained until the Prince and Sir Samuel were within 
about eighty-five yards, when they slowly waddled 
off into the Nile. As they were disappearing, the 




Prince and Sir Samuel fired, but did not appear to hit. 
The party then divided, and remained lying in patient 
expectation for three mortal hours on the hot sand. 



390 A CROCODILE AT LAST. [chap. 

Several times, here and there, a crocodile showed a 
nose, and now pushed out even a head, but not 
one would take to the land again. The Princess 
and Mrs. Grey subsequently joined the party, which 
went out fishing, with little success. To make 
up for lost time, it was proposed that the steamer 
should proceed by moonlight, but the pilot declared 
that he would jump overboard if he was forced 
to do so; and so at half-past 10 o'clock the vessel 
moored for the night. 

Next day, February 28th, as the steamer was 
nearing Abou-Simbel, a long sand-bank was seen 
ahead, on which lay no less than five crocodiles. 
These slowly, one after the other, made for the 
stream on the approach of the vessel; but after 
she had passed some distance, three came out again, 
and set themselves to bask in the sun very com- 
fortably. The Prince, Sir S. Baker, Col. Teesdale, 
and Lord Carington took a boat and got to leeward, 
and the Prince and Sir Samuel proceeded up the 
wind, creeping towards the crocodiles. Two of them 
were alarmed, and sought the stream. One, bolder 
or more sleepy and luxurious than the others, re- 
mained. Slowly and steadily the Prince and his 
companion crept on over the burning sand, till 
they got to within fifty yards of the reptile. 



xvi.] ABOU-SIMBEL. 391 

The Prince stood up, aimed steadily, fired, and the 
crocodile turned over on its side, quivering and 
dying. The expanding bullet had passed through 
his head. Sir Samuel Baker, to make " assurance 
doubly sure," ran up, and sent a Snider bullet 
through its jaw. A cheer was raised by the people 
on board the boat, and the Princess came off to 
the sand-bank to examine the creature, which was 
submitted very speedily to the care of Mr. Baker, 
the naturalist. It was a middle-sized female, 9 feet 
2 inches in length, and 47 inches in girth, with 80 
eggs. " A crocodile at last !" The flotilla continued 
its course — all in good spirits — -and arrived at Abou- 
Simbel in the evening, where the Eoyal travellers 
landed, and visited the famous temples. 

March 1st. — Weather not so hot — cloudy. About 
10.30 the Prince and Princess of Wales again 
landed, and visited both temples. The great temple 
is dedicated to Ee (sun), and in a niche over the 
entrance is a statue of this deity, in relief. It is 
remarkable for the most beautiful colossi found 
in Egypt. They (three in number, the fourth is 
destroyed) represent Eameses II. The height of 
each is sixty-six feet. The faces of the figures 
evince a beauty of expression very uncommon in 



392 WADY HALF EH. [chap. 

statues of such dimensions. They are hewn in 
gritstone rock. The total height of the facade is 
about 100 feet. The depth of the inside excava- 
tion is 200 feet. The roof is very low, and as the 
building has no ventilation, it is insupportably hot 
inside. This interesting temple was completely 
closed up by the drifting sand, which pours from 
hills around, until 1817, when it was opened by 
Belzoni and others. 

Abou-Simbel is 166 miles from Assouan, the First 
Cataract, and 40 miles from Wady Half eh, the Second 
Cataract. The fleet weighed at 12 o'clock, and 
soon after passed several crocodiles. At 3 o'clock 
the party saw one which remained so quiet that 
an attempt was made to get him. The Priuce and 
Sir S. Baker went off in a boat, but the crocodile 
took to the water, and although he put his nose 
up several times, he would not come out. So as 
the day was getting late, they returned to the 
dahabeah. The steamer moored alongside the bank, 
close to a small village, at 6.30 p.m., and remained 
for the night, having only got twenty-four miles 
to-day. 

March 2nd. — The boats started at 5.30 a.m., 
and arrived at Wady Half eh, 21 9 \ miles from 



xtt.] THE DESERT LUNCH. 393 

Assouan, and 998^- miles from Cairo, at 10.15 a.m. 
After breakfast, the Prince and Princess and suite 
landed, and rode, some on donkeys, some on dro- 
medaries — (these had come up all the way from 
Assouan, by the river-side) — along the east bank, 
to the Second Cataract. After a long, hot, dreary, 
dusty ride through the Desert for miles, they 
stopped under the rocks near the boiling pools 
which form part of the Second Cataract, unpacked 
the luncheon cases, and remained there, enjoying 
the scenery of the Upper Nile and the surrounding 
Desert, till 4.30 p.m. The ride back in the evening 
was very pleasant, but darkness fell so quickly that 
the latter part of the journey had to be performed 
at a foot's-pace. 

March 3rd. — The Prince and Princess breakfasted 
at 9.30 a.m., and immediately after left in the ship's 
boats, which pulled up the river for about two 
miles to W. shore, where donkeys and dromedaries 
were awaiting. The Prince and Princess mounted 
on donkeys, the suite on dromedaries, and followed 
the high ground by the river-side for six or seven 
miles, till they came to a very steep cliff, about 
450 feet high, overhanging the rapids, which are 
visible for many miles, and form the Second Cata- 
ract. A little farther on, three large tents (which 



394 THE TENTS. [chat. 

had been sent on early) were pitched, and luncheon 
was prepared. Two lambs, roasted whole, and a 




number of Egyptian dishes, were served up, all of 
them excellent. A most magnificent view : a moun- 
tain range, forty miles off, was seen quite clearly. 
The names of a number of British and foreign 
visitors are xut in the sandstone. 

The party remained here till 4.30 p.m., when 
the Prince, Sir S. Baker, Lord Carington, and 



xti.] THE DERELICT BOY. 395 

Dr. Minter took boat and went down through the 
rapids, the Princess, Mrs. Grey, and the rest of the 
suite returning by the river-side. Colonel Teesdale 
stalked and shot a big stork en route. The Prince 
and his party met the Princess below, and rowed 
back to the dahabeahs, arriving at 7 p.m. A native 
boy, about ten years old, came to beg by the river- 
side during dinner — a nice little lad, with intelligent 
countenance, named Ali Achmet. He said he had 
no relations, and was quite forlorn. The Princess 
has taken him on board, and intends, if he turns 
out well, to bring him home to England. 

March 4th. — The day very hot and close ; no wind. 
Weighed at daybreak ; left Wady Halfeh, and started 
on downward journey; the fleet arrived at Abou- 
Sinibel 11.30 a.m. The two dahabeahs continued 
down stream, pulled by crew, whilst Mr. Brierly 
remained on board the steamer to make sketches 
of the Temples. At 2.30 the boats came near 
a sand-bank, named Yergondai, w T here a number 
of crocodiles were seen; in all, about six were on 
the spit at once, one very large ; they constantly 
went in and out of the water. The Prince landed 
with Sir S. Baker, and tried to stalk them ; but 
owing to the wind being wrong, and so many people 
being about, it was impossible — the crocodiles took 



396 EXPECTATIONS. [chap. 

to the water one by one. Lord Carington, Colonel 
Teesdale, and Captain Ellis also landed, and all 
watched for an hour, during which time the cro- 
codiles constantly showed their heads above water, 
and approached the shore. At length it was deter- 
mined to return to the dahabeahs ; but as they were 
rising from their ambush, Colonel Teesdale shot at 
a crocodile, the head of which was visible above 
shallow water, twenty-five yards off, and hit him 
over the eye : he sank, and never came up again. 
It was settled that three pits should be dug, the 
entrails of sheep laid out as bait, and that the 
party should divide ; the second dahabeah, with 
Colonel Teesdale, Captain Ellis, Mr. 0. Montagu, 
Lord Carington, and Mr. Brierly, dropping down 
the river early next morning, and the Prince, with 
Sir S. Baker, remaining and watching in the pits 
on the sand-bank. 

March 5th. — The second dahabeah started at 
10 o'clock, and rowed down stream. A crocodile 
was seen asleep on a sand-bank, and all the party 
fired a passing volley from the dahabeah, when 
within 150 yards. Hit by one or two shots, he 
rolled into the water, and, by the commotion and 
splashing he made, showed he was wounded. He 
afterwards came up and floated, but when a boat 



xvi.] SAND-BANKS AGAIN. 397 

went after him, dived and disappeared. The whole 
party now laid in wait on another sand-bank ; bnt 
though crocodiles approached, they would not leave 
the water; and after a long hot day spent in vain, 
the sportsmen returned to the dahabeah. Meanwhile 
the Prince, with Sir S. Baker, landed from the 
other dahabeah at 10 o'clock, and remained an hour 
waiting in the holes dug out last night. One cro- 
codile showed his head, but would not come out. 
It was very hot (140° in the sun) ; so after waiting 
some time, the Prince and Sir Samuel returned to 
the dahabeah, from whence the sand-bank could be 
watched equally well. For four hours they watched, 
but no crocodiles came out, probably owing to yes- 
terday's shot. Vultures, however, took the baits. 
Seeing two crocodiles a little lower down the river 
later in the day, the Prince and Sir Samuel went 
after them, but only got a long snapshot at one as he 
took to the water. The steamer and dahabeah then 
picked up the Prince and his companion and con- 
tinued down the river, where they were joined by the 
second dahabeah, with the rest of party, at 7 p.m. 

March 6th. — The steamer got under weigh at 
daybreak, but at 8 o'clock ran fast on a sand-bank, 
and remained at least two hours aground. They 
worked her off at last, arrived at Korosko at 1.30 p.m., 



39S ARRIVAL AT PHILM. [chap. 

and remained an hour to coal. By the Prince's 
orders they despatched a dromedary messenger with 
letters, to catch the Alexandria mail of the 13th. 
The steamer and boats left Korosko 2.30 p.m. At 
4 o'clock the steamer again ran aground, and there 
was great delay in getting her off. The dahabeahs 
were now cast off and towed over the bad places. 
Soon after the flotilla had to moor for the night. 
The head-man of the dromedary corps brought 
a little Nubian monkey on board, as an offering 
for the Princess. The Prince made him a present 
of an English double-barrel fowling-piece in a case, 
and a handsome baksheesh in gold. A very hot 
day — 88° in cabin, tempered by a breeze. 

March 7th. — A change in the weather — a violent 
N. wind blowing fresh all the morning, and the 
air quite cool. At 11 o'clock the Prince read service 
on board, every one in the dahabeahs attending. In 
consequence of the adverse wind, and getting on 
sand-banks, the flotilla did not reach Philae, as was 
hoped, but moored for the night near a small village 
thirty miles above it. 

March 8th. — The Eoyal party arrived at Phila? 
at 10 o'clock, passing the Island and Temple before 
breakfast. The morning was spent packing up, and 
clearing out the second dahabeah. It was decided 



xvi.] DEPARTURE FROM ASSOUAN. 399 

that she should be floated down the First Cataract, 
if possible, and follow in tow of the tug, in event 
of the large steamer Paid Eabanie getting aground 
during the lower journey. After breakfast the 
Prince and Princess, Mrs. Grey, and every one, 
landed, and rode to Assouan on donkeys and 
horses. Luncheon was ready prepared on board the 
large steamer below the Pirst Cataract, and very 
welcome it was after the hot ride over the Desert. 
The Prince and Princess and Mrs. Grey went 
to visit Lady Duff Gordon, and found her some- 
what better. A number of natives, with pottery, 
baskets, Nubian waist-girdles, shells, ostrich eggs 
and feathers, old assegais, &c, came to the bank of 
the river to sell their wares. After dinner there 
was a very pretty illumination, strings of lanterns, 
rockets, and blue-lights, on shore, to celebrate the 
return to Assouan. 

March 9th. — The second dahabeah got safely down 
the Pirst Cataract. The flotilla got under weigh 
10.30 a.m. and left Assouan. The Paid Eabanie 
towed the Prince's dahabeah, as during the journey 
up the river. They passed Silsilis 3 p.m., and arrived 
at the bad channel and sand-bank where there was 
so much trouble coming up. Here the Mudir, or 
Governor, with 500 fellaheen, was ready to give 



400 THE FAID RABANIE ABANDONED. [chap. 

assistance; notwithstanding the passage was well 
marked ont, there was so little water, that the 
steamer got aground, and it became impossible to 
move her. It was settled, therefore, that Sir S. 
Baker, Lord Carington, and Prince Louis of Batten- 
berg should go on board the Prince's dahabeah, which, 
towed by the Boulak tug, should proceed to Thebes, 
the other steamers to follow whenever they could. 

March 10th. — The Alexandra, towed by the 
Boulak, left at 6 a.m., and proceeded. The Paid 
Babanie did not get off the sand-bank until 2 p.m. 
The Governor, with his fellaheen, were all the morn- 
ing round the vessel doing their utmost to move her. 

After frantic efforts and much shouting, emptying 
boilers and lightening ship, and taking even paddle- 
floats off, she floated about 3 p.m., but at 6 p.m., 
when off Edfou, she went hard ashore again. This 
proved so serious a delay, that it was decided to 
abandon her. So after dinner the whole party were 
transhipped to the second dahabeah, and the servants 
and establishment to the Beshbish (Kitchen Steamer) ; 
but they were not completely settled down till 1 a.m. 
The large steamer got off during the evening, but 
on account of her draught of water it was determined 
not to use her again. The Alexandra dahabeah 
passed Esne at 4.30. p.m., but the Boulak towing 



xvi.] DANCE AT MUSTAPIIA AGA'S. 401 

her got aground about five miles above Luxor at 
6 p.m., and the flotilla did not arrive at Thebes 
till 7.30 p.m. They were received with every honour. 
It being the sixth anniversary of their Royal High- 
nesses' marriage, Mourad Pasha proposed their 
healths, and there were illuminations, and a display 
of coloured lanterns, red and blue lights, rockets, 
and Roman candles, on shore and on board the 
dahabeahs, on the occasion. About 10 p.m. the 
Royal party went on shore to the house of Mustapha 
Aga, where an entertainment was given in honour 




of the Prince and Princess. The celebrated Zenah, 
a dancing-girl, very pretty, with extremely graceful 
manners, from Keneh, and two others, performed. 

D D 



402 TREASURE TROVE. [chap. 

The Princess was much pleased and interested 
with the scene. Thirty mummies, twenty of which 
are in excellent preservation, have been dug out by 
Colonel Stanton's exploring party in the Prince's 

reserves. 

March 11th. — At 11 a.m. the Prince and Prin- 
cess, and suite, crossed the Nile in boats, and went 
on donkeys to see the excavations. The place in 
which the mummies were disinterred is a quarter of 
a mile from the Temple of Memnon. The hole is 
dug down 100 feet deep. Mr. Smith and Mustapha 
Aga were let down by ropes, pulleys, and nooses, but 
came up exhausted and almost suffocated by the foul 
air. A large red granite sarcophagus, 9 feet in 
length, about 4 feet in width, with about. 50 car- 
touches, which is positively stated to be the tomb 
of Nicoteris, the beautiful Queen of Egypt — date 
600 b.c. — was found in the excavation. It is con- 
sidered a great " trouvaille." The sarcojDhagus will 
be got out by an engineer, who is to be sent up 
from Cairo on purpose. After examining the place 
the party rode to Dehr el Medinet, and to the Mem- 
nonium, where luncheon was prepared. The Prince 
shot a few birds as specimens, and after a rest amid 
the ruins the party returned to the dahabeahs. 

iiarch 12th. — The flotilla left Luxor at 5.45 a.m. 



xvi.] AT SIOOT. 403 

The second dahabeah lashed to the Alexandra ; both 
towed by the Beshbish. The establishment were 
embarked, some on board the Beshbish — some 
on the Boulak. Colonel Stanton, Sir H. Pelly, and 
Major Alison returned in the Azzizea. All got to 
Keneh without stoppage (forty-eight miles) by 10 
a.m., and remained two hours to coal and breakfast. 
Thence they made very good way. When the sun 
had set they had arrived within fifteen miles of 
Grirgeh, where they moored for the night. It was 
very hot, and there was quite a plague of flies. 

March 13th. — The steamers left at daybreak, 
arrived at Souhadj at 12 o'clock, and halted there to 
coal. Starting again in an hour, and no stoppage 
occurring, they got within ten miles of Sioot (ninety- 
three miles) by dusk. Under the awning on the deck 
of the Alexandra, where the Prince and Princess 
breakfast, lunch, and dine, it was 98° at 3 o'clock. 
The flies very troublesome, and not much wind. 

March 14th. — The fleet started at daybreak, and got 
to Sioot at 8.30 a.m., where they stayed for a while 
to coal, and continued ; but, owing to the Beshbish 
getting foul of the dahabeah, there was some trouble. 
Ultimately it was settled that a small steamer from 
Sioot should tow the Alexandra, and that the second 
dahabeah should be towed by the Beshbish. The 

d d 2 



404 A SHIPWRECK. [chap. 

Prince read the service at eleven o'clock ; all on 
board the Alexandra attending. They arrived at 
Ehoda at 5.40 p.m., and were received at the land- 
ing-place by the Governor of the province and the 
resident officials, who conducted them over the Sugar 
Factory. It is the private property of the Yiceroy, 
and the most important on the Nile. The overseer 
is an Englishman. It is exceedingly well managed, 
and worked with steam power. The profits last year 
were about £40,000. 

March 15th. — The Alexandra, in tow of a small 
steamer from Sioot, left at 6 a.m. for Minieh; but the 
green dahabeah got into difficulties. As a violent 
gale was blowing from N. she became unmanageable ; 
first getting jammed between the Beshbish and the 
Faid Eabanie, which ran into her, and then, being 
caught by the current, she ran foul of the anchor of 
a corn-laden Nile boat. This occurred 6.45 a.m. 
She began to fill with water quickly, and a scene of 
indescribable confusion ensued. All were in bed at 
the time of the shipwreck. Fortunately, she was not 
far from shore. She was pushed close to the bank. 
Every one worked with a will — Mourad Pasha and 
Abd-el-Kader Bey in their dressing-gowns — and, al- 
though the water rose knee-deep in the cabins, every- 
thing: was thrown on land in about five minutes, 



xvi.] MINIEH. 405 

and nothing was lost, though much was wetted and 
spoilt. In the meanwhile the Azzizea got aground 
for more than an hour about a mile lower down, and 
the Beshbish did the same close to the wrecked 
dahabeah. The baggage had to be transferred to the 
tag, which got away, with all on board, about 
9.30 a.m. Beached Minieh at 12.30, and found that 
the Alexandra had been already there three hours. 
The wind and dust were very disagreeable, but later 
in the day it cleared, and the Brince went in the 
punt with Webster, and got a shot, killing one 
pelican and seven spoonbills. The pelican was a 
very fine pink-feathered specimen. The party dined 
in the Viceroy's Balace — a large new building, 
handsomely furnished, with very well shaped rooms. 

March 16th.— The party left Minieh at 9 a.m. in 
a special train, and arrived at Cairo (180 miles) at 2 
p.m. Their Boyal Highnesses were received at the 
terminus by Mehemet Tewfik Basha. A charabanc 
and four horses, a sociable and four, and two smaller 
carriages, well appointed, the horses grey Normandy 
pecherons, with postilions and piqueurs, admirably 
turned out — -an exact copy of the country carriages 
of the Emperor of the French, except that the 
liveries were blue, instead of green — were ready to 
take the party to the Pyramids. Major Alison and 



400 RETURN TO CAIRO. [chap. 

Sir Henry Pelly were asked to join the suite, which 
arrived at the Pyramids in thirty-five minutes. The 
Princess and some of the party climbed to the en- 
trance of the Pyramid of Cheops, and groped their 
way into the inner chamber by the subterraneous 
passage. The Prince and others ascended to the top 
of the same Pyramid, attended by a body of Arabs. 
Then they descended and rode with the Princess, on 
donkeys, to see the Sphinx. After sunset they re- 
turned to the chalet lately built at the foot of the 
Pyramid, where dinner was prepared. They all left 
Gizeh at 9 p.m., and in about an hour, after a very 
dusty drive, reached the Esbekiah Palace, which was 
found quite ready for their reception ; the English 
and French servants having come on from the 
terminus in the afternoon. 

March 17th. — The Prince and Princess, with most 
of the suite, started in a carriage and four, followed 
by two other carriages, to the Citadel, and after 
calling on Mehemet Tewfik Pasha, who did the 
honours in his father's absence, went to the Great 
Mosque, in which the tomb containing the bones of 
Mehemet Ali is preserved under an embroidered 
velvet catafalque, with great care and reverence. 

They ascended one of the graceful minarets, from 
the platform of which a grand panorama of the city 



xti.J VISITS IN CAIRO. 407 

and environs of Cairo is obtained. Thence they went 
to Bir Ynsef (Joseph's Well), a very curious tank 
hewn in the rock, about 260 feet deep, part of the 
way to which they descended by a circular gallery. 
They afterwards visited various places of interest in the 
city, the aspect of which is undergoing rapid changes. 

In the afternoon, the Prince rode through the town 
with some of his suite, and after dinner the Royal 
party went to the Circus, which has been run up in 
five weeks, where an excellent French company, 
just imported, gave a capital entertainment. 

March 18th. — Mr. Kauffmann, a German photo- 
grapher, took several groups of the party in their 
Nile dresses. In the afternoon, the Prince and 
Princess, with Mrs. Grey, and most of the suite, 
drove to the tombs of the Caliphs, outside the 
town, visiting those known as "El Kaedbai " and 
"El Eshraf," and the mosques attached to each. 
The shape of these buildings, as well as the interior 
decoration, is most picturesque ; but they are rapidly 
falling to pieces, and no steps are being taken to 
preserve them. Thence they drove back through the 
bazaars, stopping at the mosque Berkook, and that 
of Sultan el Hakem. These are said to have been 
built about 1200 a.d., and the interiors are beautiful, 
very curious, and well worth seeing. The tombs are 



40S VISIT TO THE KHEDIVE. [chap. 

about the same date. After dinner the Khedive, who 
returned, as we have seen, to Cairo yesterday even- 
ing, and met the Prince in the course of his ride, 
received their Eoyal Highnesses at the Theatre, 
conducted the Prince and Princess to his box, and 
remained with them till the close of " La Vie 
Parisienne." 

March 19th. — After breakfast the Prince, attended 
by his suite, proceeded to the Kasr-el-Ml to pay a 
visit to the Viceroy. It seems as if there was more 
interest taken by the people in the Eoyal party, 
for the crowd round the gateway and railings of the 
Esbekiah increases daily. There is certainly no lack 
of signs and tokens about the Palace of the Eoyalty 
inside. There are guards outside the entrance, and 
sentinels at the gates, and a couple of companies of 
infantry of the Guard to furnish them. There are 
officers in full uniform on the steps of the portico 
and in the Great Hall, and there are carriages ever 
ready in the court. When Prince or Princess go out 
or come in, the cornets of the band play a flourish, 
the guard turns out, and the Beys and officers form 
in line to show respect to the guests of their master. 

The Viceroy received the Prince very warmly, 
and renewed his inquiries respecting the incidents 
of the voyage up the Nile, and the impressions 



xti.] THE BOULAK MUSEUM. 409 

produced by the appearance of the country. The 
Prince and the party took leave in half-an-hour, 
and drove to the Museum of Antiquities at Boulak, 
where the Princess, attended by Mrs. Grrey, arrived 
at the same time. They were received by the Direc- 
tor-in-Chief, M. Marriette, and his assistant, a Bey 
who speaks English very fairly, and is well acquainted 
with our leading Egyptologues. 

The Boulak Museum is a compendious account 
of Ancient Egypt, which needs, however, the pre- 
sence of Marriette Bey himself to render it fully 
instructive and intelligible. Whatever may be its 
other merits — and I only put it in that way because 
I am not able to pronounce an opinion — the Catalogue 
raisonne, with its Introduction, is a most charming 
little volume, full of candid philosophy and know- 
ledge. It is not to be supposed that Ismail Pasha 
has any great knowledge of archaeology, but he is 
enlightened enough to perceive the value placed on 
Egyptian monuments by the civilized world, and 
wise enough to go to the expense of fostering the 
Museum and its professors. " That/' quoth M. 
Marriette, tapping the nose of a beautiful bust in 
black granite, "is the Pharaoh whose heart was 
hardened, and who would not let the children of 
Israel go" It is a face of exceeding sweetness, 



410 THE TWO PHARAOHS. [chap. 

youthful and round with sensitive lips, executed 
with the greatest delicacy. The Princess smiled 
incredulously. M. Marriette accepted the challenge, 
and at once expounded the history of the statue, 
and the hieroglyphics, and carried conviction to 
every mind. "And there is the Pharaoh who was 
the friend of Moses." No one was hold enough 
to express a doubt this time, even by a smile. Let 
every one follow the example of the Prince and 
Princess, and visit Boulak — all the better if M. 
Marriette be there. Egypt owes much to him, 
Europe owes a good deal, and if it be true that 
France owes most of all, what wonder ? 

In the evening the Viceroy gave a dinner at the 
New Grizeh Palace, in honour of their Eoyal High- 
nesses. All the Ministers, Officers of State, and 
Consular Agents, and great persons at Cairo, in- 
cluding Sefer Pasha, a Hungarian in the service of 
Turkey, chief of the Staff to Omar Pacha during 
the Crimean war, were present. Ere our appearance 
on the scene, the ladies of the great harems had 
been treated to a view of the preparations, and 
we had met many carriages filled with the pretty 
prisoners returning disconsolate to their gilded cages, 
and sighing, no doubt, for liberty. To see no one 
but a dreary old Minister of State, a lady superior, 



XVI.] STATE BANQUET. 411 

and leguminous-looking black eunuchs, would drive, 
one would think, most women, including the British 
washerwomen who are in the Yiceregal service, out 
of their senses ; but the ladies externally bear no 
signs of their woe, though they must envy their 
infidel sisters their ample liberty. 

The entertainment at the Palace to-night was 
enchanting. The menu was admirable, and the 
dinner, served on the richest plate, in the exquisitely 
decorated Banqueting Hall in the Garden Iviosk, 
the gem of the Viceroy's many palaces, a most gor- 
geously furnished little Moorish villa, lately built, 
was of great luxury. Social intercourse is re- 
stricted, on such occasions, to civilities connected 
with the mere viands and drinks and a few 
timid observations. What can one, unless he be 
a Lady Margaret professor or an Admirable Crichton, 
do with a Minister of State on either side, who 
only talks Arabic or Turkish? Many of the high 
Egyptian officials speak Trench, but not all. After 
dinner the company rose and went to the recep- 
tion-rooms and open colonnades, to which they were 
tempted by the fineness of the night. 

The people in " gala attire/' the gardens lit up 
like day, reflecting in the ornamental water close 



412 THE BRITISH SCHOOL. [chap. 

hy the Oriental figures, moving about the marble 
courts with their clusters of graceful Moorish pillars, 
conjured up the thought that it was all out of some 
grand Caliph's Feast in the brightest chapter of 
" The Arabian Nights." It was a most charm- 
ing spectacle, and every one was delighted with it. 
The display of native-made fireworks after dinner 
was a great success. 

March 20th. — At 11 o'clock, the Prince drove to 
visit Miss "Whateley's British Mission School, and 
was received at the gate of the school-house by the 
ladies and gentlemen belonging to the Mission. In 
the doorway stood two rows of boys, singing to a 
native melody Arabic verses written for the occasion. 
As the Prince entered the boys gave the Eastern 
salutation. Some of the head class read in English, 
others answered questions in geography; and the 
Prince expressed his satisfaction at the order and 
appearance of the children. The girls produced a 
more effective impression than the boys. Every 
variety of hue and material was to be found in the 
dress of the seventy-eight scholars — from the bro- 
caded silk trousers and vest of the wealthy to the 
print frock of the peasant. The poor were numerous, 
but many had borrowed articles, and some had even 



XVI.] THE BRITISH SCHOOL. 413 

obtained jewels from friends or neighbours. The 
green, pink, and lilac gauze veils, which are the 
ordinary festival dress of children in Egypt, hang- 
ing gracefully over the dark plaited locks of hair, 
and shading the brown-complexioned but clean and 
bright faces, had a very pretty effect. The Prince 
returned to the boys' school, and examined their 
handwriting in Arabic and English. After saluting 
the young assembly and their superintendents, and 
shaking hands with the ladies, the Prince took leave. 
In a quarter of an hour the Princess, accompanied by 
the Hon. Mrs. Grey and Abd-el-Kader Bey, arrived. 
A number of the boys had been allowed to disperse, 
and several benches, which had a few minutes before 
been crowded, were empty. The gracious manners 
and kindty look of the Princess won every little 
heart. They repeated two or three texts from 
Scripture in their own tongue, which Miss Whateley 
translated ; and afterwards their needlework w T as 
shown, and the Princess especially admired the native 
work of gold embroidery on crape, and desired a 
specimen. She seemed much pleased, and remarked 
on the contrast they presented to the children she 
had seen in the native villages and streets of Cairo. 
Both Coptic and Moslem children learn together. 



414 THE RACES. [chap. 

The Egyptians must have a favourable impression 
left on their minds by this Boyal visit. One of 
the missionaries having observed before to a person 
of some authority that he hoped the English Prince 
and Princess would visit the schools, the dignitary 
laughed, and said, " Princes and kings don't dare 
about poor children and schools.' 5 He may now see 
that this was a mistake. 

In the afternoon the Prince, Princess, and suite 
drove in state to the races given by the Viceroy in 
their honour. The Prince and Princess were in a 
charabanc drawn by six Horses, and were preceded 
and followed by two piqueurs in full uniform, and 
by a body of Viceregal cavasses on horseback; 
and the rest of the suite were accommodated with 
seats in charabancs drawn by four horses each, and 
ridden by postilions in the same livery as those of 
the Royal vehicles. There were magnificent liveries, 
faultless scarlet coats and leathers, black oilskin hats, 
with cockades and bands, and orthodox bobtailed 
wigs for the Frenchmen who rode the pecherons. 
The day was almost unbearable by reason of a 
Khamseen wind, which raised enormous clouds of 
dust. The efforts of the native water-carriers on 
such occasions are not very successful in keeping 



xvi.] THE RACES. 415 

down tlie nuisance. Here is one of them, with his 
skin of water, ready to sell it or spill it,. as you desire. 




There were troops and cavasses to line the course, 
there was a guard of honour, and there was a 
splendid band. There were prizes, and there were 
horses to run — everything, in fact, to make a race- 
course, except people to look at it. The Grand 
Stand was pretty well filled by Europeans, and 
there were some Egyptians on it and on the Vice- 
regal Stand, which was reserved for those who 
were invited; but whether the day was too un- 
pleasant for the multitude to venture out, or that 
horse-racing had no attractions for them, certain 



416 AX INVITATION. [chap. 

it is tli ere were not a hundred natives to be seen, 
and that the number of vehicles on both sides 
of the ropes numbered only twenty. The Vice- 
roy came to the stand soon after the arrival of the 
Boyal id arty, and entered into lively conversation with 
his guests about the races ; but he complained of 
head-ache, and retired before the sports of the day 
were concluded. The English horses, which gave a 
liberal allowance to their Arab opponents, were not 
fortunate, and the favourite came to grief ; but there 
was consolation for the English non-backers, and 
gratification for the natives, in the success which 
attended the Viceroy's stable, and in the victory 
of Shereef Pasha's horses ; for that excellent minister 
has made himself very agreeable to the visitors to 
Cairo. There was a hot luncheon spread in a large 
marquee for the Eoyal party and their suite, and 
for the invited guests. The work of the day did 
not terminate at the racecourse. There was a 
theatrical representation at the Kasr-el-Xil, in the 
charming little theatre within the Palace, and there 
was a grand supper after it. The invitations were 
issued as follows : — 

"Par ordre du Khedive, le Maiire des Ceremonies 

prie Mr. de vouloir Men assister a la soiree 

tJiedtrale qui sera donnee, en Vlionneur de leurs 



xvi.] THE VICEROY'S REQUEST. 417 

Altesses Hoy ales le Prince et la Princesse de Gerties, 
ate Palais de Kasr-el-Nil, le Samedi 20 Mars, a 8 
heures et demie die soir" 

The Ministers of State, and the principal foreign 
residents in Cairo and Alexandria, and their families, 
were present. It was a very pretty scene, and 
at the close the Viceroy led the Princess to supper. 
The Viceroy, subsequently, presented orders to the 
gentlemen of the suite. It was believed that with this 
entertainment the festivities, galas, and displays of all 
kinds consequent on the Prince's visit, would come 
to a close, and that one of the most interesting Poyal 
progresses ever made in Egypt would end, so far 
as Cairo was concerned. 

Every preparation had been made for the departure 
of the Prince and Princess in the morning. Special 
trains were in waiting, the authorities warned, and the 
whole staff which revolves round its centre at the 
Esbekiah Palace was held ready to transfer* itself to 
Suez. The only part of the programme which re- 
mained to be fulfilled was the visit to the Suez Canal. 
M. de Lesseps returned to Ismailia on the previous 
Saturday, in the belief that the Eoyal party would 
visit the Canal on Monday. But when the theatricals 
were over the Viceroy made a request to the Prince to 
stay for the great Feast of the Bairam (Kouban), which 

E E 



418 THE HAREMS. [chap. 

falls on the 23rd ; and if ever host had a claim to the 
consideration of his guest, Ismail Pasha possesses it. 

March 21st. — Before the night was over the intel- 
ligence was made known to the ladies of the harem. 
They were so delighted that they sat up all night to 
talk over the reception of the Princess, and sent 
a special messenger for Miss Maclean, who acts as 
their interpreter, to express their joy and to arrange 
for their little dinner. Early in the morning the 
news went round that the departure for Suez was 
put off three days. The Princess, accompanied by 
Mrs. Grey, paid visits to the wife of Mourad 
Pasha, who has made himself very much liked by 
all. There were some shoppings and bazaar visit- 
ings to be done, and a last sight taken of the 
curious old town and its quaint streets. 

The merchants were unusually active, and the hall 
of the Esbekiah Palace was crowded with would-be 
sellers of curiosities, humble intriguers for admis- 
sion to the presence, and men in charge of bales 
of silks, carpets, Cairo work, dresses. The ladies of 
the harems of the Ministers were very anxious for 
the honour of a visit from the Princess, and she 
gratified Shereef Pasha by going to see his wife and 
household. A harem interior is nearly always the same 
— a number of women covered with jewellery, not re- 



xvi.] THE BAZAARS. 419 

markable for good looks ; a pretty slave-girl now and 
then to be seen — inquisitive, simple, gossipy creatures, 
who show their affection and attention by pulling 
pieces of meat off the dishes with their fingers and 
putting them into the favoured lady's mouth. 

March 22nd. — The last day in the bazaars. Once 
again the Princess, attended by Mrs. Grey, mounted 
on donkey-back, set out on a ramble through the 
never-failing delightful labyrinth. There is always a 




gentleman of the suite and an aide-de-camp of the 
Viceroy near at hand • but generally the people have 
no idea who the Frank ladies are who examine their 
wares so curiously, and enjoy a little bargain. The 

e e 2 



420 B AIR AM. [chap. 

Prince renewed his recollection of the old town, and 
visited the old palace of Kasr-el-Nourza, where he 
lived when he was in Cairo in 1862 ; and after lunch 
the Princess and Mrs. Grey drove out and paid visits 
to the harem of Abd-el-Kader Bey and Achmet 
Hassan, the captain of the yacht. Each of these 
gentlemen is content with one wife; and the visits 
proved so agreeable that Her Eoyal Highness did 
not return till it was close on dinner hour. 

March 23rd. — At daybreak the Khedive repaired to 
the Citadel, and the thunder of the guns woke us all 
up, and announced to Cairo that Bairam had com- 
menced. Taking his place in one of the grand 
saloons of the old Palace, close to the Mosque of 
Hassan, Ismail Pasha received a long procession oi 
ministers, officials, and citizens, who came to pay their 
respects en grande tenue. To the Egyptians, for 
all ostensible purposes of government, the Vice- 
roy is an absolute monarch. The homage of his 
officers and of the members of his Government is 
given to him, not as to a Viceroy, but as to a King. 
No doubt there is in Egypt a very strong feeling 
against the yoke, light as it is, of the Sultan ; but 
the Viceroy himself and his most enlightened minis- 
ters feel that their dependence secures them against 
many grave inconveniences and heavy obligations, 



xvi.] THE KHEDIVE. 421 

and evince no desire to gratify the wishes of the 
native party or of " young Egypt," who would 
gladly shake off to-morrow the almost imponderable 
yoke of the Turk. Never had Viceroy of Egypt, 
however, such an honour paid to him as that which 
the Prince of Wales's visit to one who really is a 
tributary prince would confer on the levee. And 
never, perhaps, did Ismail Pasha feel so like a king 
as when he stood on the steps of his Palace, in 
front of all his officers of State, and with the 
eyes of what may be called all Europe, as repre- 
sented by the consular agents of all the Great 
Powers, upon him, welcomed the Prince, and led 
him to the seat of honour in the Court within. 

The Prince, who wore his General's uniform, was 
attended by all his suite in full uniform, and by 
the Marquis of Huntly and the Earl of Gosford, who 
had arrived in Cairo on their way from India to 
England, and were invited to accompany him. The 
carriages sent from the Viceregal stables were models 
of good taste and exquisite finish. Horses, men, and 
vehicles were as good as could be desired. 

There was a considerable crowd outside the 
Palace railings as the Prince's carriage, preceded 
by outriders in scarlet and gold, and mounted 
cavasses in state uniform, slowly passed out into the 



422 THE PROCESSION. [chap. 

street to the sound of the Eoyal salute ; and there 
were hats and caps raised, and a few cheers were 
heard. But the Oriental is not in the aggregate 
easily moved, and, least of all, by an infidel show ; 
and although there were graceful salutations by 
upraised hands, and the most respectful attitude on 
the part of the multitude, drawn up as if by order 
on both sides of the tortuous streets, not a sign of 
admiration at the fine sight, nor any emotion at 
the aspect of the unusual uniforms, could be detected 
on their faces. A short way from the Palace 
the lines of soldiery began, and continued in a 
close wall up to the inner court of the Citadel. 
There must have been nearly 5,000 men under arms. 
The soldiers wore white gloves. As the Prince's 
cortege, with its escort of Lancers, passed, the officers 
saluted, the colours were lowered, and the bands 
stationed along the route struck up " God save the 
Queen " and the Eg}~ptian national air. On entering 
the Citadel the guns opened. Passing through court- 
yards lined with troops, into the inner quadrangle, 
there we saw a mass of officers in blue and gold, 
quite dazzling in their brightness as the sun fell on 
them, at the entrance to the Palace. A band of the 
Egyptian Guard struck up "God save the Queen" 
again. As the Prince's carriage pulled up at the 



xvi.] THE RECEPTION. 423 

steps, which were lined by the officers and suite of 
the Household, the Khedive, attired in a rich blue 
and gold uniform, and wearing the Star of India, 
came to meet him. The Prince and the Viceroy, 
followed by their retinues, proceeded through the 
lines of state functionaries to the Reception Hall, 
where the Viceroy and Prince sat apart, with 
Egyptian officials of the first rank on the left, and 
the British gentlemen on the right. After a few 
moments, there came in a valetaille in the fez and 
black frock, — they are scarcely domestics, for their 
office is higher than that of servants and lower than 
that of Ministers, — the chibouquejees bearing pipes — 
they put one in mind of " adversity " — such precious 
jewels about them, and so sweet the uses of their 
tobacco, — and a Minister of Coffee, whose shoulder 
was covered with a cloth stiff with pearl and diamond, 
bearing a gold tray, whereon were most exquisite 
little cups in delicate holders, that were perfect gems 
in all but continuity of jewelled surface. The Prince 
and the Viceroy, after a short conversation, rose, 
walked to the outer porch, followed, as before, by 
their suites, and the Khedive took leave of the 
Prince on the steps. The Eoyal cortege drove 
through the Citadel, with the same honours as on 
their arrival, to the Kasr-el-Ali, whither the Princess 



424 THE VICEREGAL HAREM. [chap. 

of Wales, attended by the Hon. Mrs. Grey, Mrs. 
Stanton, and Miss Maclean, had gone previously to 
visit the Viceroy's mother. The Hereditary Prince 
received the party at the steps of the Palace, and led 
the way to a most delightful interior, where there 
were more pipes and coffee. We were in the " In- 
accessible of Inaccessibles." There were officers of 
high standing with us who had never set foot so far 
within the walls of the Harem. Some, indeed, did 
not venture to come inside. Coffee and pipes over, 
the Prince and Tewfik Pasha went out to the 
garden, where the Princess was waiting after her 
visit to the Harem; and their Boyal Highnesses, 
having taken leave of the young Prince, returned to 
the Esbekiah Palace. Soon after their arrival the 
Khedive appeared there with a small suite to return 
the visit ; and while he was engaged in conversation 
with the Prince, the Hereditary Prince arrived to 
convey the compliments of the Viceroy's mother to 
the Prince and Princess. 

In the afternoon, the Princess and Mrs. Grey 
went out driving, and the Prince rode on Schoubra 
Poad. The gentlemen paid visits to the Ministers. 
The Prince dined with the Khedive on board a 
yacht on the river. The Minister of Finance, Ismail 
Pasha, entertained us at a grand banquet, at which 



xvi.] THE LAST DAY. 425 

Colonel Stanton, C.B., the Consular Officers, Colonel 
Teesdale, Captain A. Ellis, Sir S. Baker, Dr. Minter, 
Lord Carington, Mr. Montagu, Mr. Brierly, Prince 
Louis of Battenberg, Major Alison, the Marquis of 
Huntly, the Earl of Gosford, the great officers of 
State : — Shereef Pasha (Minister of the Interior), 
Ichabim Pasha (War), Zulfikar Pasha (Foreign 
Affairs ad interim), Abdallah Pasha (President of 
the Corps Legislatif), and others were present. 

In the evening the Princess, attended by Mrs. 
Stanton, and Miss Maclean, and Mrs. Grey, drove 
to the Grizeh Palace, where they were entertained 
in the Harem until past midnight, and returned 
to the Esbekiah greatly pleased, in native dresses, 
in which the ladies insisted on attiring them, and 
with faces decorated in the Egyptian fashion. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 



BAKSHEESH. THE DESERT. SUEZ. CHAL0UF. SERA- 

PEUM. ISMAILIA. LIFE IN THE DESERT. PORT 

SAID. SUEZ CANAL. ARRIVAL IN ALEXANDRIA. 

THE PARTING. — THE ARAB BOY. FAREWELL TO EGYPT. 

March 24th. — A horrible Khamseen wind blow- 
ing. The ordinary visitor in Egypt has an ordeal 
like this to face wherever he turns ere he leaves 
the country :— 



A prince is not exposed to such a direct assault, but 
" noblesse oblige," and the custom of the country 
renders it a heavy tax indeed in the case of royalty. 




chap, xvii.] DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO. 427 
Ere the Eoyal visitors departed there was, then, a 
process to be gone through, which afforded great 
solace to many persons. The daughter of the horse- 
leech fastens on a princely victim with unfailing 
vigour ; but on the present occasion there were per- 
sons whose attention and services needed recognition, 
and the higher their rank the greater the difficulty of 
carrying out the object. Baksheesh is a national in- 
stitution; but I fancy the Prince does not find change 
of country produce any alteration in its prevalence so 
far as he is concerned. Presents numerous and costly 
in degree, in addition to much-prized photographic 
souvenirs, were made to some. Then there were dona- 
tions of hard coin to those of smaller grades. 

At 12 o'clock the Prince and Princess and suite 
drove to Kasr- el-Nil Palace, to take leave of the Vice- 
roy ; the special train was drawn up at the place 
where the Viceroy received their Eoyal Highnesses 
on the day of their arrival. After cordially thanking 
him for all his kindness and hospitality, the Prince 
and Princess, accompanied outside the Palace Grarden 
by the Viceroy and his suite, proceeded to the plat- 
form, entered the state saloon carriage, and amid 
much salutation, the train, in charge of Betts Bey, 
moved away at 1 o'clock p.m. For some hundreds of 
yards the line passes by the hovels of the suburb 



428 THE DESERT. [chap. 

on the versre of which the Palace is situated. The 
passenger has fine views of the interiors of these 
cabins, but, after all, what he sees is not very much 
worse than the sights which greet a foreigner as 
he approaches London by Bermondsey or Yauxhall. 
The natives just came to the door to take a glance 
at the train as we rattled past, and set about their 
work as usual. 




It is not all desert which lies between Cairo 
and Ismailia. For the first thirty miles the line 
passes through some of the richest of the wonder- 



xvii.] SUEZ. 429 

ful soil of Egypt, where the Nile, sucked out, and 
scooped up, and forced along canals by incessant 
human labour, fattens the loam it has deposited, 
and enables the Desert to send forth crops, the like 
of which cannot be seen even by the course of the 
Mississippi. Wherever fresh water flows or falls, 
there stone or sand give way to green crops, and 
trees, and the huts of men. Shall it be confessed 
that a journey by rail through the bare Desert is not 
interesting? After a time, not always very long, 
the monotony wearies. Would it be better on a 
camel, such as we see there plodding along with its 
driver, making for some distant spot lost beyond 
that burning horizon ? Owing to an accident to the 
pilot engine, the train did not get to Suez till an 
hour behind the appointed time. We intended to 
visit the docks, but it was 7 o'clock, and quite dark, 
before the party reached the Hotel. They were 
received by the Governor of Suez, and the officials 
in full uniform, and bv the English officers stationed 
here in charge of the transport. 

The Hotel was almost entirely filled by the Eoyal 
party, and M. de Lesseps, M. Borel, M. La Eousse, 
Major Clerk, Captain Eoberts, Dr. Hardie, Mr. West, 
and others, were invited to the dinner, which in- 
cluded many Indian dishes — all the servants natives 



430 CHALOTTF. CHAP. 

of India. There were fireworks from a boat in the 
harbour, and a capital military band played on the 
quay outside. In the evening, the Prince and suite 
went to the Cafe Chantant, where there was a cre- 
ditable performance. A black boy, about twelve years 
old, who was employed at the hotel as a waiter, 
Selim by name, and who had been set free from an 
Arab dhow, was engaged by the Prince to come 
home in his service. 

March 25th. — The Eoyal party started at 9 a.m., 
and ran down by rail to the pier, where the 
works of the Canal Company are being carried for- 
ward — a large dock, 4.20 feet long, being already 
completed. They went on board an English tug, 
and steamed round the Mole and as far up the 
Canal as they could. M. de Lesseps, M. Borel, 
and M. La Eousse, who were of the party, ex- 
plained the object of the principal works. The 
party returned in the tug at 10.30 to the Hotel 
to breakfast. At 11.30 they left and entered the 
special train for Ismailia ; guards of honour turned 
out, military bands playing, salutes fired, and all 
Egyptian and European officials attending their 
Eoyal Highnesses to the carriages at the station. 

The train arrived at Chalouf in about half-an- 
hour, where all alighted, and crossing the Sweetwater 



xvii.] SERAPEUM. 431 

Canal on a ferry-platform, proceeded along the banks 
of the Maritime Canal for about two miles, the 
Princess and Mrs. Grey in a pony-carriage with 
M. de Lesseps, the rest on horses. 

There is a deep cutting here, in which camels, 
asses, mules, and men are busily engaged remov- 
ing the sand and debris. The Timsah lake and 
the other finished sections do not strike one so 
forcibly as the aspect of the uncompleted labours of 
the workmen. The parts of the Canal already fit 
for traffic have not very much to attract one in the 
way of sight- seeing. Labour shuns the work it has 
done ; but here we can inspect the nature of the task 
which was set for those who grappled with the 
undertaking at the beginning. 

The inspection lasted an hour ; then the party 
continued the journey in the train, and at 1 p.m. 
got out by the banks of the old Sweetwater Canal, 
where two small steam launches were waiting. They 
went on to Serapeum, where they were met on 
landing by Mme. Charles de Lesseps, Mme. and 
Mcllle. Gruichard, Mme. Borel, Mdlle Voisin, M. 
Lavalley, and others. They walked through the 
little town which is springing up here, to the 
Maritime Canal, where they embarked in steam 
launches, and started for the Great Dam, through 



432 ISMAILIA. [CIIAP. 

the sluices of which the Mediterranean is being* let 
into the Bitter Lakes. 

The scene before us was full of life and animation. 
Down at our feet a very Babel was at work — men 
loading the animals from the deep pits in which 
they were toiling, to a wild accompaniment of sounds, 
in which the moaning roars of the camel and the 
braying of donkeys rose above the cries of the work- 
men. The asses, poor little brutes, go in strings 
up and down the cutting at a quick step. The 
camel, on the contrary, paces up and down the decli- 
vities with immense gravity and aplomb. The ass 
stands whilst the Arabs are filling the sacks on 
his back. The camel kneels. The engineers calcu- 
late that a camel will carry one-fifth of a cubic metre 
of sand, and that he is only able to do the work of 
two asses, pompous and pretentious as he is. 

Having inspected the Dam and the vast space to 
be inundated, some of the sluices were raised, to let 
in the water, which rushed rapidly into the bed of 
the Bitter Lakes ; and the party having enjoyed the 
sight embarked, proceeded by the Canal to Lake 
Timsah (which they entered at 5.15 p.m.), and reached 
Ismailia by 6 o'clock. At the landing-place there 
was a triumphal arch erected, and a crowd of all the 
colonists and troops lining the road. The Prince 



XTii.] THE CITY. 433 

and Princess got into basket-carriages with large 
flat wheels and four horses — the rest of the party 
on horseback — and were escorted through the prin- 
cipal thoroughfares by a respectful cavalcade. 

If the Suez Canal never produced any greater 
result, such an extraordinary city would be a remark- 
able development. Every one who takes the smallest 
interest in what is going on outside the limits of 
these islands, knows something about the general 
plan of the Suez Canal, but without a personal visit 
it is impossible to conceive how wonderful this little 
city really is. On the borders of the newly- created 
Lake, there lie stretched out magazines, storehouses, 
cafes, restaurants, boulevards, church, cemetery, set in 
a border of bright verdure fresh and blooming. The 
limits are sand and rock, the veritable Desert itself. 
Wood can be worked by Egyptian carpenters and 
French designers into pretty and fanciful outsides, 
and the necessity of procuring as much air as pos- 
sible, and of keeping out sunshine and dust, conspire 
to the production of such fantastic contrivances in 
architecture, that, on the whole, the chalets are like 
nothing that I have ever seen. And then the gardens, 
where there are growing in their newly-found homes 
the banana, the orange, the cactus, and tropical 
plants in great abundance, form a charming orna- 



434 THE PIONEERS OF THE CANAL. [chap. 

ment, and contribute to the light and graceful aspect 
of the town. Indeed, the houses on the Esplanade, 
facing the Sweetwater Canal, and looking out upon 
Lake Timsah and the water front, put one in mind 
of an exquisite bit of scenery on the stage, or one of 
those elaborate toys, in detached pieces, got up by 
cunning workmen for the 'amusement of the children 
of the great. The city has all the Desert around it 
to expatiate upon, and no one can say to what extent 
it may reach. On the map, its well-defined lines, 
with broad squares and streets, stretching out into 
mathematical points, which have no parts, look 
almost too grandiose. All of this — the town, the 
people who inhabit it, the trees, the grass — depend 
on one work — the Sweetwater Canal. Dry up that, 
and they wither and die. 

Sad must have been the lot of those daring 
pioneers who first settled down on the shore of the 
bitter lagoon, without one particle of green ; toiling 
under a tropical sun ; smitten by sickness ; living on 
the daily supply of preserved provisions ; hoping 
against hope ; contending against apathy ; and 
encountering opposition before which men of less 
sanguine temperament and adamantine resolution 
would certainly have succumbed. And, indeed, in 
the aspect of most of them, there is somewhat of the 



xvii.] ISMAILIA. 435 

expression to be seen on the faces of old soldiers who 
have gone through a toilsome and protracted warfare. 
Now, these bold adventurers may say, " The prize is 
nearly won," because to them the prize is the accom- 
plishment of the work ; and for its remoter future 
or its financial results they have not much care. 
Year by year they have been straining every effort of 
mind and body to that one object. It was but 
natural that the exiles should seek, as their means 
developed themselves, for some of the comforts and 
endearments of homes. By degrees the tent was 
changed for the log-house ; the log-house for the 
cabin ; then came the chalet ; and then came the 
wives and daughters, the graces and accomplishments 
of civilization. The cc family " was formed, and, to 
judge of those amongst whom we were, bloomed like 
a rose in its Desert home. 

In some of the houses there is a degree of 
elegance and refinement, which is as surprising as it 
is delightful. Books, engravings, paintings, music, 
furniture from Vienna, or Paris — these contrast in 
the memory of the present inhabitants with the early 
privations which they met and conquered. 

One of the greatest charms, however, of the life of 
the colony is to be found in the Desert itself. The 
stables of the Company furnish excellent horses 

F F 2 



436 LIFE IN THE DESERT. [chaf. 

for the use of visitors ; the chief employes have 
their private studs of fiery Arabs, and the young 
ladies have become bold and hardy horsewomen, 
whose greatest pleasure is to go on what is called 
a fantasia into the Desert, galloping over stone and 
sand to some spot selected for a pic-nic, and 
returning, after a long day, or perhaps two, to their 
homes. M. de Lesseps is a true hippodamos, and 
pushes his equestrian powers to the limits of human 
and equine endurance, and the gentlemen who assist 
him emulate his capacity. Life is "fast" at Ismailia 
— at least that portion of it which the stranger sees 
— for the men are nearly always galloping, ventre a 
terre, with groups of ladies, flying like the wind ; 
and . speed — constant speed — by land and water is a 
necessity of existence. Early hours and constant 
exercise have enabled the inhabitants to resist the 
effects of climate and the high temperature to which 
they are subjected part of the year; and, to judge 
from their looks, they are in robust health. 

The Frenchman must have his cafe and his billiards 
wherever he goes, when he has settled down to take a 
lease of the soil. There are several in Ismailia, as well 
as hotels and estaminets ; and in an evening you would 
be tempted, as you hear the click of the billiard-balls 
and the rattle of the dominos, and look in through 



xvii.] ISMAILIA. 437 

the gauze blinds and see the smoking crowds, to 
imagine that you were in some country quarters of 
La belle France, but for the deep sand, which, rising 
ankle deep, tells you that the city is built in the 
heart of the Egyptian Desert. " There is," says M. 
de Lesseps, "perfect religious toleration in this Babel 
community; and there is also perfect freedom." If 
one of the workmen commits a grave offence, he is 
handed over to the Consular jurisdiction, of which 
there is generally some representative in each camp 
or station. But the fear of losing good wages is 
generally a sufficient restraining power, inferior only 
to the dread of the Egyptian police, which are 
stationed at every camp of the Company, by the 
special request of M. de Lesseps. There are few 
crimes, it is said, committed ; but I saw some with 
foreheads villanous low, who must have great con- 
tention with their bumps if they do not now and 
then break a code or two. I wonder will Ismailia 
ever be a stopping-place, where voyagers eastwards 
and westwards will halt, as they do now at Suez or 
Alexandria ? It may be that soon it will be only as 
Dover and Calais are to the continental traveller. 
It may be that none, except some patriotic French- 
men, will ever behold Ismailia; but if the Canal 
itself do not fail, it is hard to think the City will 



438 ISMAILIA. . [chap. 

not become known to all the nations of the 
world. 

The party, having made a short tour through 
the city, drove or rode across the Desert to the Vice- 
roy's chalet — a pretty little pavilion, built on high 
ground, overlooking Lake Timsah. A battalion 
camped here furnished a guard of honour. In the 
chalet the Prince and Princess and Mrs. Grey were 
put up, with rather scanty accommodation \ and, in a 
range of out-houses, the rest of the party doubled up, 
not uncomfortably. Dinner was served in a large 
tent outside, and M. de Lesseps, Mme. C. de Lesseps, 
M., Mme., and Mdlle. Guichard, M. and Mme. Borel, 
M. Lavalley, M. and Mdlle. Yoisin, Abd-el-Kader 
Pasha, Governor of Ismailia, D. de la Roche, and 
Betts Bey, were invited, and returned to Ismailia by 
moonlight after a delightful evening. 

March 26th. — At 9 a.m. M. de Lesseps and his party 
arrived at the chalet from Ismailia, and soon after 
we all left, the Princess and Mrs. Grey in basket- 
carriage and four, the Prince and the rest riding very 
nice horses. After a sharp ride of half an hour 
the party arrived at El-Guisr, where they paid a 
visit to the charming chalet, full of pretty things, of 
M. Gioja, the engineer of the division. The Zenet-el- 
Bahareen (the same steamer which took the Duke of 



xvii.] PORT SAID. 439 

Sutherland's party up the Nile) came down the Canal 
from the landing-place below the Viceroy's chalet, 
where she embarked the servants and luggage, and we 
went on board her to breakfast, and started at 10.30 
a.m. on the Canal to Port Said, passing, every mile 
or so, the immense dragues — elevateurs a longues 
couloirs — which all day long are dredging and 
scooping out and raising sand. The Prince and 
others went on board one of the largest size, and 
examined it with great interest whilst it was in full 
work. 

At 5.30 the flotilla, which consisted of one large 
and three small steamers, arrived, after a most 
interesting journey, at Port Said. As the vessels 
came in sight, salutes were fired from the Maha- 
roussah and Mehemet Ali frigates, which dressed 
and manned yards. To show us what was to be 
seen, the steamers, passing the quay, steered on- 
wards along the course of the western jetty or pier, 
which extends 3,000 metres out to the sea, and ends 
in a depth of nearly 30 feet of water. It is intended 
to carry it 500 metres farther, if the extension be 
rendered necessary by the accumulation of mud and 
sand, which is the evil to come prophesied by many 
engineers as most to be feared. 

The Canal is dredged out to the full depth of eight 



440 PORT SAID. [chaf. 

metres for a stretch of many miles before entering the 
first basin of the port ; the general effect is very 
impressive as the quay and the lines of honses and 
workshops come in view, with the Mediterranean in 
the background. The streets of Port Said are 
straight and rectangular enough to fill the heart of 
M. Haussmann with pleasure — shops, cafes, hotels, 
and stores, a Health Office, a Life-Boat station, 
a Light-House, a considerable length of detached 
supra-villa-like houses facing the sea — all these, and 
more, on a shore eight years ago a surf-beaten sand- 
bank, unvisited by man, and only known to the 
flamingoes and wild fowl, which waded about on the 
site of the future city! 

The pier is not straight, but takes an inward 
sweep, and forms a sort of elbow to the East. The 
other pier runs in a right line rather to the west, so 
as to narrow the entrance, and is 1,000 metres shorter 
than the other ; but there is no great pressure upon 
it, for the prevailing winds and currents are westerly. 
The pier is formed of blocks, made at Port Said, of 
sand and calcareous limestone brought from Marseilles. 
The blocks are oblong, and weigh twelve tons each. 
They are cast irregularly into the sea ; some split in 
the fall, and lie in the way called higgledy-piggledy, 
and the surf runs through the interstices, and creates 



xyii.] SAND ACCUMULATIONS. 441 

a slight bubble in the harbour inside, not sufficient to 
capsize a wherry. Now the great question is, what 
will the effect of this jetty be on the fine sand 
brought by Nile currents and sea from the west? 
M. de Lesseps and French science say, that whatever 
it may be, they can counteract the effect by prolonging 
the jetty ; but they deny that it does exist, or that 
it is to be feared to any great extent, at all. 

The question of accumulations by currents and set 
of sea and wind from the west has yet to be tested. 
It is conceded that as regards the eastern pier little is 
to be feared. Before our eyes, on the west pier, there 
lay a smooth fine beach, which has been spreading 
out to sea at the rate of seventy yards or more a year. 
M. de Lesseps regards this with great satisfaction. 
He says he is " growing land," which is every day 
becoming more valuable. It is said that the sand 
does not and will not accumulate at depths exceeding 
eight or nine feet. If the beach encroaches outside 
the breakwater, there will be constant care needed to 
prevent the sand gathering inside also, but it will not 
be difficult either to dredge the harbour or to make a 
prolongation of the jetty from time to time. The 
truth appears to be that there is no impossibility, but 
that there will be some difficulty — an ingredient of 
expense that will always have to be considered — in 



442 SELECTION OF PORT SAID. [chap. 

connection with, this point. There has been a full 
share of hard gales and heavy seas since the infancy 
of the breakwater, and no great damage has been 
done. The harbour is perhaps the best in the 
Mediterranean, next to Marseilles or Toulon. It 
exceeds Alexandria in facility of access. The water 
outside is deeper. There are no islands, rocks, 
reefs, banks, or difficult channels, so that, when the 
light-houses are complete, Port Said will be as easy 
to run for in bad weather as any port on a lee 
shore, and for steamers it will be available night 
and day. 

The choice of the patch of exposed beach on 
which Port Said is built, was determined by the 
depth of water on the coast. A line of six metres, 
drawn eastward in the Pelusiac Bay, here sweeps in 
towards the land. Three-fourths of the winds that 
blow are good for making it ; and as the bottom is 
excellent holding ground, there is really no reason to 
doubt its capacity, if it be possible to keep the port 
free from sand and drift. 

The Suez Canal is not made. There is a consider- 
able amount of work still to be done. But the con- 
ception of M. de Lesseps is raised out of the limbo 
of possibilities. The project for the junction of two 
seas is already in a condition to admit of a probability 



xvii.] THE SUEZ CANAL. 443 

that the remaining part, being the easier portion, 
will be completed by the 11th of October.* The 
commercial success can only be determined by the 
experience of a term of years after the canal has been 
opened. No opinion can be safely offered on the 
point. If the route be conducive to the interests of 
commerce, no national jealousies or private interests 
can prevent its stream flowing through the canal at a 
great profit to the shareholders. The freight which 
the Company proposes to charge is at the rate of 
lOf. a ton transit duty on all actual cargo, excluding 
provisions for the crew, dead weight, stores, &c. ; and 
the sum saved on a voyage to the East Indies would 
be equivalent to the total insurance on the ship, 
without counting the time saved, cost of the crew in 
food and wages, and wear and tear of material. It 
may be said, and with some truth, that it is too early 
for any speculation until the canal is open ; but it is 
not too early to remark how complete has been the 
failure of sinister prophecies. 

At the landing-place, their Eoyal Highnesses 
were received, on returning from their little trip 
seawards, by Kassim Pasha, Vice-Admiral and 
Governor of Alexandria, and getting into a small 
waggonette, the only wheeled vehicle in the place, 

* The opening, as the world knows, is now fixed for l?th November. 



444 THE WORKSHOPS. [chap. 

drove round the town to the principal workshop of 
the Company, where the machinery is repaired. A 
number of men were engaged in repairing the iron 
buckets of the dredging machines, which are exposed 
to great strain and wear and tear. Steam-hammers, 
drilling, slotting, planing, and boring machines were 
busy, some under the direction of Arab workmen, 
whose fineness of touch and facility in learning were 
much praised by the French gentlemen who super- 
intend them. They earn as much as three francs a 
day, and rarely meet with the accidents to which 
European workmen are subject from their own 
neglect. In another shed forty men were engaged 
in forge work, and another steam-hammer was in 
full operation. The result of the engineer's labours 
is represented by diagrams and sections, and by an 
ingenious arrangement of brass scales and slides, 
which shows how much has been and how much 
remains to be done in the way of excavation in each 
section. One can easily understand how the contrac- 
tors, Messrs. Lavalley and Borel, have sunk 2,000,000 
francs in the machinery and plant necessary for carry- 
ing on their vast operations. 

The Eoyal party thence went in a state barge to 
the Maharoussah, the Viceroy's yacht, which was left 
for their accommodation by the Viceroy, with the 



xvil] THREE HARD ROLLS. 445 

Mehemet Ali to keep her company, as escort of 
honour. The Ariadne drew too much water to 
risk the entrance to the harbour, and the Psyche, 
which came round to Port Said, could not well 
accommodate all the party. The Maharoussah was 
in some respects very comfortable, but much of her 
space is occupied by great saloons full of gorgeous 
furniture. There was a magnificent service of plate 
and a crowd of servants left on board, but the Prince 
did not seem much gratified by the appearance of the 
Egyptian marines, who are dressed in the closest 
imitation of our own gallant E.M.L.L, and differ 
only in the badge on their shakoes. He was, however, 
greatly struck with the size and arrangements of the 
Maharoussah, and went down into the engine-room, and 
had a conversation with Mr. Jackson, the Engineer- 
in-Chief of the navy, who has the rank and title of 
Bey, respecting the ship, which has the name of 
having made the most rapid run on the measured 
mile ever recorded. Dinner was served as we got 
under weigh, 8 p.m. All went on smoothly as long 
as we were inside the jetty. The big French domes- 
tics did their spiriting gently, and moved easily along 
the level richly carpeted floor. Piles of costly china, 
on scagliola tables, caused no anxiety, and marriage 
bells were nothing to us in merriment. But at the end 



446 ARRIVAL IN ALEXANDRIA. [chap. 

of the jetty the yacht " slowed," and then lay-to, to 
land the pilot who had guided her down the channel. 
The swell outside caught the broadside, and roll 
number one caused a gentle clatter of the glasses on 
the table. Eoll number two gave birth to a small 
crash of a decanter or two, a cry of " Look out there ! " 
and a little exclamation from the Princess, And then 
came roll number three, a regular heave, which sent 
seats, candelabra, vases, epergnes flying, and wine run- 
ning; in clattering avalanches the piles of Sevres 
china slid from the sideboards on the carpet, and 
lay in ruins — piles of white and gold fragments, 
which could not be replaced for hundreds of pounds, 
probably. The steamer after this freak became quite 
steady, and went on her way rejoicing. A fine 
night, and made good way (15 knots). 

March 27th. — The Maharoussah entered Alexandria 
at 9 o'clock a.m. All the ships in the port were 
dressed with flags, and the Egyptian men-of-war and 
a French frigate in the harbour, which gives time to 
all Egypt, manned yards and fired salutes. After 
breakfast, the Prince and Princess went off in the 
state barge and visited Eas el Teen, Mehemet Ali's 
old palace, where pipes and coffee were served in the 
large Hall. The troops of the garrison were drawn 
up in the court outside, and were inspected by the 



xvn.] TRANSFER TO ARIADNE. 4>4t7 

Eoyal party, who soon afterwards proceeded to Cleo- 
patra's Needle and Pompey's Pillar, in carriages sent 
from Cairo by the Viceroy for the occasion. 

There was a considerable crowd assembled in the 
streets to see the Royal travellers on their way back 
to the boats. A guard of honour was drawn up at 
the dockyard jetty, and their Eoyal Highnesses went 
off in the Viceroy's barge, under a salute, to the 
Ariadne, where they were received with hearty cheers 
by the crew on the yards. 

The transfer of the party to the Ariadne was 
quickly made. From a large saloon-like cabin, with 
a marble bath-room close at hand, in which, however, 
there were great hydraulic difficulties, to a neat, 
compact little crib on the main deck of the man- 
of-war, was a change which at first seemed un- 
promising. But it is astonishing what an agent of 
power user is. The Prince, Princess, and suite re- 
sumed their former quarters, and cabins were found 
for the additions to the Eoyal following on the 
main and lower decks. The two boys, Achmet and 
Selim, Lord Carington's black page, and the gazelles, 
were provided for also ; but there is a mischievous 
activity about the young Arab derelict, which causes 
hostile feeling among the domestics. 

The Nubian monkey was soon more at home than 



44S THE PARTING. [chap. 

the boys or the gazelles, and made friends with the 
sailors all ronnd. 

Luncheon was prepared in the Boyal saloon, to which 
the Egyptian officers who had been in attendance were 
invited. The healths of the Viceroy, of the Queen, 
of the Prince and Princess, were proposed and drunk 
with due honour. Then came the " word that must 
be spoken." The Egyptians seemed much affected 
at parting. Mourad Pasha was moved almost to 
tears. Abd-el-Kader Bey and Achmet Hassan Bey 
hovered round the frigate in their boats, as if loth to 
depart. Sir S. Baker, the Marquis of Huntly, the 
Earl of Grosford, and Sir Henry Pelly, took leave of 
the Prince and Princess, and embarked for England. 

The Ariadne was to have weighed before sunset, 
but unfortunately the screw got foul of the buoy to 
which an Egyptian frigate astern of us was moored. 
The wind blew strong from the MW. All efforts 
to get the buoy out of its snug berth between one 
of the blades of the screw and the rudder-post, 
proved ineffectual. Men were sent down to break 
in the iron plates with sledges. Enfields were fired 
and perforated them, but the buoy held on. Dark- 
ness set in, the Ariadne was doomed to remain at 
her involuntary mooring for the night ; Mourad 
Pasha, Abd-el-Kader Bey, and Achmet Bey, came 



xtji.] THE ARAB BOY. 449 

on board and remained till it was time to go off 
to shore. In the course of our journey, very grave 
doubts had been raised in the minds of those who 
knew him best, whether Achmet was a good invest- 
ment. His temper was bad, his disposition intract- 
able ; and yet he had an interesting face and me- 
lancholy air, and his story was so pitiable — above all, 
the Prince was so kind — that it was not accepted 
as a just view of him. The urchin was jealous of 
Selim, idle, pugnacious, or rather dentatious, and 
quite demoniac in his rage. He was not by any 
means uumischievous ; and I used to watch him 
moving smoothly about the cabin in which I was 
writing, trying to take the handles off the doors, 
and peering into drawers like a monkey. He bit 
hard, and would use a knife on occasion, if he 
could. Complaints were rife against him, The 
Prince's domestics — kind, excellent men — could 
make nothing of the boy. As he began to under- 
stand he was to leave Egypt, he became more trouble- 
some than before. A council of war was held upon 
him by the Prince this evening. Mourad Pasha in- 
terpreted. And there, before Prince and Pasha, as 
he was lectured, stood Achmet, son of Ishmael, with 
folded arms, knit brow, and defiant eye, untouched 
by kindness and unmoved by threats. The end was, 

(t g 



450 NATIVE DIVERS. [chap. 

that he was allowed a week or two of grace, and 
then, if there was cause of offence, he was to be 
sent back to parents, of whose existence he suddenl}?- 
became aware, at Cairo. 

March 28th. — From the early dawn divers were 
employed in the endeavour to extricate the frigate. 
Dockyard lighters, boats, and flats, laden with admi- 
rals, captains, officers, and men, clustered around our 
stern like bees. The native divers went down from 
the side of their boat without any preparation, except 
a short prayer. They seemed to have no fear of the 
sharks which are said to infest the harbour. Their 
aplomb contrasted forcibly with the elaborate me- 
chanism, air-pumps, levers, and pulleys employed by 
the Government divers ; but, between them and the 
crew, it was possible to move about midday. Hours 
of hard work were needed, and the thought occurred, 
" What a pickle we should be in if we were brought 
up in this fashion under the fire of those batteries ! " 
The departure was one of the prettiest of the spec- 
tacles witnessed by the Eoyal party. The day was 
exceedingly bright and clear. All the batteries, ships, 
and forts were dressed and manned, and as the 
Ariadne steamed from her moorings, with all her 
bunting displayed, from frigate after frigate, and from 
all sides of the harbour, came the swelling volumes 



xvii.] FAREWELL TO EGYPT. 451 

of the salutes, and streaming trails of white smoke 
flew across the bright hlue background of the sea. 
The Psyche passed the bar in advance, and the 
liveliness of her motion warned us to prepare for a 
swell, which the breeze last night had left behind. 
Mr. Onslow read service on the main deck ; and 
very soon after we were contending with a rolling 
sea, which would have proved inconvenient had the 
service been postponed. Long ere sunset the shores 
of Egypt were lost to view. 




G G 2 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 



IMPRESSIONS. COMPARISONS. SLAVERY. ANCIENT 

EJECTMENTS. SULTAN AND VICEROY. THE 1TRMANS. 

THE CAPITULATIONS. CLIMATE. LIFE ON THE 

NILE. RESIDENCE IN CAIRO. 

The impressions left on the mind of the Prince and 
Princess, by their reception in Egypt, could not 
fail to be most agreeable. And the effort it cost to do 
so much, and to do it so admirably, cannot be un- 
derstood, perhaps, by those accustomed to live in 
Courts at home. 

It was well, for many reasons, that the Prince 
should come to Egypt. It was well to let it be seen 
that Great Britain takes some interest in the country. 
The people scarcely, as a rule, understand any- 
thing about us. We have let Egypt "go by the run," 
as sailors say. Ministers and statesmen and politi- 
cians can estimate our strength, but nearly all that 
Egypt sees of Europe is essentially French. The 
English travel there — so do Americans. But the 
men who are in office, who get on, who control great 
public works, and who are present to the eye of the 
people in Egypt, are not English or Americans — 



chap, xviii.] CONDITION OF EGYPT. 453 

they are French. And if anything were needed to 
show the extent of their power, it is the jealousy of 
our allies, and of the control they have acquired in 
the management of affairs in Egypt, entertained by 
Turks, here and in Turkey. 

There is a strong party in the interest of the Sultan 
which asserts that Egypt is going back instead of 
advancing. It needs special knowledge of the coun- 
try to form an opinion on that point. In the mode 
of treating illustrious visitors, at all events, Ismail 
Pasha has nothing to learn from the most civilized 
and polished nations in Europe. That may be no 
criterion — indeed, I don't pretend it is — of the 
condition of the people ; but it should prevent rude 
criticism on the part of Englishmen, and command 
the gratitude of the nation which has been honoured 
in the person of its Prince. I have travelled through 
India, and I feel how difficult it would be to defend 
our administration against the charges an intelligent 
and ignorant foreigner, who judged of the effect 
of our rule only from the external appearance of 
ryots and villagers, and of the bazaar population of 
the towns, might bring against us. A governor- 
general in Calcutta, a chief commissioner of a pro- 
vince, a collector, a district judge — nay, a small 
official with his retinue and state, his equipage, his 



454 COMPARISONS. [chap. 

chuprassies, his civilized luxuries — contrast them with 
the state in which the " people " live ! Think of 
what may be seen within easy range of many a 
Palace ! Consider that we, scarcely with a wince, 
made the " people " of India pay for the ball to the 
Sultan in Downing Street ! Reflect on what happens 
under the most liberal rule in the world, and then 
fling stones at the Mahometan ruler, who allows, 
indeed, his people to live as their fathers lived, 
and who has seen, nevertheless, the country increas- 
ing in material prosperity ; who has opened roads 
and waterways, embellished his capital, encouraged 
arts and industry, and broken down, as far as he can, 
the barrier which separates the Mahometan from the 
Christian — the old world of the strong arm from 
the new world of the strong mind ! Suppose Ismail 
Pasha were to tear away from home and occupation 
every adult male in the land, and send them to fill the 
ranks for a certain number of years, would there be 
any language too strong for his conduct ? Suppose 
he were to say to millions of his people, " You shall 
pay taxes, and you shall do all that I order you, but 
you are debarred for ever from rising to office in the 
State, or from filling in army, navy, or judicial func- 
tions any but certain inferior grades," how we should 
inveigh against him ! I was in the Southern States 



xviii.] SLAVERY. 455 

at the beginning of the Civil War, and saw that mil- 
lions of men were held in bondage in a Christian Re- 
public — that they produced all the wealth on which 
.the country lived, and furnished that material for our 
supposed necessities in which their masters imagined 
there lay the foundation of national independence. 
Schools and all that schools can teach were forbidden 
to these people. Even Christianity was under prohibi- 
tion. One day, as I was speaking to a negro lad in a 
gang, the overseer told me there was no use in asking 
him about the Bible. " We don't encourage that sort 
of learning," he said ; "we find it puts things into their 
heads." And yet we bring to bear the achromatic 
telescopes of our civilization on Egypt, and detect 
" chains and slavery " all over the land ! I cannot say 
that the fellahs have the air of comfortable labourers 
or prosperous farmers ; but, considering the way in 
which they live, I am satisfied that they are not the 
most unhappy or degraded of mortals. The Pharaoh 
of to-day is certainly a merciful ruler compared with 
his more famous predecessors of the old-world times. 
Dr. Seabury, and other American divines, published 
books to prove slavery was a divine institution, and 
was a wholesome natural condition — the raison d'etre 
of the black race. Ismail Pasha, Mahometan as 
he is, acting against the teachings of his faith, the 



456 



PHARAOH'S SLAVES. 



[chap. 



traditions of his people, and the interests of masses of 
his subjects, struck off the manacles of the slave where- 
ever he could ; and although there is no doubt in my 
mind that slavery — in fact, called by another name, . 
and not smelling a bit better — does exist in Eg}^pt, 
the Khedive is entitled to full credit for making 
strenuous efforts to suppress it. 

For 3,000 years the people of Egypt were in a 
condition of slavery. Till lately they knew no free- 
dom. They sold first their lands and then their 
bodies to Pharaoh. It was his minister, the Israelite 
Joseph, who devised and carried out the policy which 
made his master owner of their lives and labour 
and the soil they tilled. The story is instructive 
as it is told in the Old Testament : — 

And there tvas no bread in all the land; for the famine was very 
sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by 
reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that 
was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the com 
which they bought ; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 
And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of 
Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread : 
for why should we die in thy presence ? for the money faileth. And 
Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, 
if money fail. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph : and Joseph 
gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the 
cattle of the herds, and for the asses : and he fed them with bread 
for all their cattle for that year. 

And next mark this : Famine is a tyrant indeed ! 

When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, 
and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our 



^VIII.] 



ANCIENT EJECTMENTS. 



457 



money is spent ; my lord also hath our herds of cattle ; there is not 
ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands : 
Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? 
buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants 
unto Pharaoh : and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the 
land be not desolate. 

" Buy us and our land for bread ! " 

And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the 
Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over 
them : so the land became Pharaoh's. 

And now a great clearance of small farms and a 
forced emigration are mentioned : 

And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of 
the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. Only the land of 
the priests bought he not ; for the priests had a portion assigned 
them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave 
them : wherefore they sold not their lands. Then Joseph said unto 
the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for 
Pharaoh : lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it 
shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part 
unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, 
and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for 
your little ones. And they said, Thou hast saved our lives : let us 
find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants, 
And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day 
that Pharaoh should have the fifth part ; except the land of the priests 
only, which became not Pharaoh's. 

Well, there is no such law now, and the Viceroy 
certainly does not get a fifth of the gross product 
of the soil, nor does he own a slave. It will be 
years, perhaps centuries — though not as many as 
have rolled by since the Norman came over here — 
before the " people " of Egypt possess our political 
activity and intelligence — -the attributes of a free 



458 SULTAN AND VICEROY. (chap,, 

European people ; but • they are now immensely 
elevated above the condition of their fathers. The 
Village Chief is a political power ; the principle of 
representative institutions has been introduced into 
the country, and if not rudely blighted by adverse 
winds from the north-east, it may yet attain respect- 
able influence and dimensions. 

In proportion as the character of the Sultan is 
strong, the position of the Viceroy becomes liable 
to disagreeable coercion. Just as Egypt is active or 
inert, or as the ruler of Turkey regards the country 
as an appanage or an independent state, the Sultan 
is jealous or indifferent. History teaches us that it 
the Satrap be more powerful than his master, he will 
rebel ; that if the Suzerain be strong, and the Satrap 
be weak, the latter may at any time be deprived 
of the privileges which he has obtained. The Turk 
would now willingly take back what he has given, 
but he cannot. It is hereditary satrapy — it is all 
but autonomy — that he has yielded. There is 
little doubt in my mind that Egyptians have 
no feeling of loyalty towards the Padishah. To 
the devout, his office and his person have a certain 
interest, and inspire a due respect. But the towns- 
people and some influential classes would be glad 
to throw off the allegiance which gives comfort to 



jmn.] THE FIRMANS. 459 

the native politicians. It is pickerel-weed to the 
pike, — " Help us," say these Egyptians, " whenever 
the Porte tries to lord it over us. The Viceroy will 
not strike, nor will his ministers. But we can com- 
promise them hy a few hold acts, and these shall not. 
he wanting if the Great Powers stand hy us." 

I have not space to enter upon the consideration of 
the grave questions which may at any time he raised 
between the Sultan and his vassal. The Imperial 
firmans on which the Viceroy relies — or may rely- — 
are like Acts of Parliament, Acts of Settlement, or of 
Union, or other solemn Parliamentary documents — 
" a hreath may unmake as a breath has made " them. 
He therefore looks abroad for support. Every 
Egyptian in disgrace flies to Constantinople, and 
finds there a congenial atmosphere for the " study 
of revenge — immortal hate," in agitating to upset 
the firmans. 

The document on which, read by the light of former 
charters and firmans, the Viceroy founds the strict 
legality and loyalty of his conduct, is the Firman of 
5th June, 1S67, of which the principal passages are, 
in its French abstract, as follows : — 

" Apres les formules qui conferent aux Pashas 
d'Egypte se titre de Khedive, le firman continue 
ainsi qu'il suit : 



460 THE FIRMAN OF 1867. [cnAr. 

" Mon firman imperial qui confere a la vice-royaute 
d'Egypte le privilege de l'heredite directe, stipule en 
outre que les lois organiques en vigueur dans les 
differentes parties de mon empire, seront mises en 
pratique et appliquees en Egypte conformement a la 
justice, a l'equite, et en prenant en consideration les 
moeurs et le caractere des habitants. Mais par lois 
organiques il faut entendre les principes generaux 
proclames par la Charte de Gulkhane (garantie de la 
vie, de l'lionneur, et des biens). Seulement V adminis- 
tration interieure de V Egypte, et par consequent les 
inter ets financiers, materiels, et autres du pays, ay ant ete 
confies au gouvernement du Vice-roi, il a paru necessaire 
pour sauvegarder ses interets, et leur donner plus 
d'extension, d'accorder au gouvernement Egyptien la 
permission de faire tous les reglements qu'il croirait 
necessaires dans ce but, sous forme d'actes speciaux 
d'administration interieure. Tous les traites souscrits 
par mon gouvernement imperial devront comme 
toujours etres executes en Egypte. Mais le Khedive 
a toute autorisation de conclure avec les agents 
etrangers des arrangements speciaux relatifs aux 
douanes, a la police des sujets etrangers, au transit, et a 
la poste. Seulement, ces reglements ne pourront en 
aucune facon etre promulgues sous forme de traites 
ou de conventions politiques. Dans le cas ou 



xyiii.] THE CAPITULATIONS. 461 

ces actes ne seraient point conformes aux lois 
organiques dont il a ete parle plus taut, et 
viendraient a toucher aux droits de ma souverainete 
territoriale, il faudrait les considerer comme nuls et 
non avenus. A cet effet, si le gouvernement Egyptien 
venait a avoir quelques doutes sur l'integrite ou la 
lesion de ses droits, il devrait avant toute resolution 
definitive en referer a ma Sublime Porte. Mais lors- 
qu'il aura fait un arrangement special pour les douanes, 
il en donnera avis a ma Sublime Porte. Dans les 
conferences qui desormais s'ouvriront entre mon 
gouvernement imperial et les differentes puissances 
pour la conclusion de traites de commerce, le 
gouvernement vice-royal sera con suite et son opinion 
sera demandee, pour sauvegarder les interets commer- 
ciaux de l'Egypte." There is here argument for both 
sides, and the terms and tenor indicate a disposition 
to tighten the rein. 

Those who entertain hopes for Egypt, may well 
despair if an end be put to the efforts of the 
statesmen who are seeking to modify the law 
— or rather the want of law — affecting the rela- 
tions of foreigners and natives. And yet the Porte 
seems determined to allow no negotiations to be 
carried on by Egypt with any foreign Power for 
that object, and seems bent on the overthrow of 



46.2 THE CLIMATE. [chap. 

one of the ablest ministers who ever served a country 
— Xubar Pasha. 

We must leave the solution of the Egyptian pro- 
blem to time. What more interests many English 
readers is the consideration of the advantages of a 
residence in Egypt as a sanitary resort. It is diffi- 
cult to speak from personal experience of the climate 
of a country to which one has only paid visits of a 
few weeks at distant intervals. Yisited though it be 
by cholera at times, and subject, as it has been, to 
terrible pestilences, it is incontestable, that Egypt 
enjoys generally an excellent sanitary condition, 
and is, especially in the upper country, singularly 
free from dangerous fevers or maladies of the re- 
spiratory organs. 

It would not be wise to select Lower Egypt as 
a residence, even if there were choice of cities to live 
in, because it must be remembered that there are in 
summer special disadvantages, exceedingly irritating 
to an invalid — excessive heat, flies numerous and 
vigilant beyond description, and insects which vex 
humanity by day and night. The dust is attended 
with mere physical discomfort, perhaps, though 
I have a conviction that ophthalmia, which is such a 
common and troublesome affliction, is a great deal 
due to the fine and almost impalpable powder which 



xtiil] LIFE OX THE NILE. 463 

floats, at the height of many feet, cloud -like, in 
the air, the live-long da)', whatever physiologists 
may say to the contrary. Why not live on the 
Xile ? Well, even if one could endure the monotony 
of existence on board a boat day and night for weeks 
and months, there are seasons in the year when such 
a mode of life would be troubled. Thus, when the 
Xile is flooding the country, there are few stations 
at which a dahabeah can moor ; and when the 
Xile is falling, the exhalations from the mud deposited 
by its waters are not calculated to improve the 
health, and certainly are offensive to the nose. The 
seaboard is the last place in the country to be recom- 
mended for invalids. Torrents of rain, wind, and 
violent changes of temperature, mark the vicinity 
of the Mediterranean. In Upper Egypt, which is 
so delightful in the winter, there are few suitable 
places of residence to be found. Strangers come 
like flights of birds, lodge on board their boats, and so 
depart ; but surely it would be worth while to try, at 
some of the large towns on the river, such as Sioot, 
Minieh, and Assouan, the establishment of houses 
where invalids could take up their abode for a time in 
the winter season. It is not every one who is content 
with life on board a dahabeah. As to the benefits 
to be gained by an escape from a winter in England, 



464 RESIDENCE IN CAIRO. [chap. 

wlio can doubt it who lias once inhaled the atmo- 
sphere — I had almost said "melodious" — of the Nile, 
in the months which arc, in England, most terrible ? 
At Cairo there are exceedingly comfortable hotels, 
and the capital of Egypt is a civilized resort, superior, 
in some respects, to many continental cities of the 
same extent. If an invalid takes up his residence in 
Cairo, with the intention of remaining until the end 
of March or beginning of April, he should calculate 
his movements so as to arrive therein the very last 
days of October or the beginning of November. 
There are, of course, some days sufficiently trying to 
weak lungs and to feeble constitutions — inequalities in 
temperature, sudden chills, days which seem to have 
escaped from a wintry prison in Europe, and to 
be revelling in the Egyptian capital— but, in general, 
from 10 o'clock in the morning to 5 o'clock in the 
afternoon, for all those months, there is, away from 
the crowded streets and the dusty paths, where men 
and animals are throwing up a sort of cloud-like 
vapour, a lovely transparent air. Doctor Bourguieres 
affirms that Europeans, who arrive in Egypt, carry- 
ing with them the germs of phthisis, may not be 
absolutely quite safe from the development of the 
disease, but that it is certainly exceedingly slow, and 
that all ulterior progress is frequently checked in 



xviii ] THE NILE WEATHER. 465 

the most remarkable manner. In the first stage 
of phthisis, the moist and warm air of the country 
appears to facilitate the absorption of tubercle ; 
in the second, and even in the third stage, expec- 
toration diminishes, hematosis ceases, and wasting 
is checked ; and the learned Doctor declares that 
he has seen true cavernous tubercles completely 
cicatrized and healed. Chills, however, must be 
guarded against, for the moment the sun declines 
below the horizon, the fall in temperature is 
very considerable. Charming, ineffably delicious 
as the nights are, one must not trust himself 
unprotected to their seductive beauties, but ought 
to have warm clothing, however light, always at 
hand. The instant the Khamseen wind sets in, 
which is generally towards the end of March, 
the European must fly. From the 15th December 
to the 15th February, the Nile offers the greatest 
advantages to the invalid ; and many a congregation 
in England has benefited by the expatriation of some 
favoured pastor, who, after a visit to the First or 
Second Cataract, has returned to them in full voice. 
After all, Egypt still depends on the Nile in every 
way, and without it the land would in every way be 
a waste. 

The chapter of Exodus in which the Nile is alluded 

H H 



466 



THE NILE OF SCRIPTURE. 



[CHA.P. 



to appears to have been somewhat loosely translated, 
or rather, the ellipses have been filled in without 
proper warranty. In verse 17, chap, vii., it is said: — 

I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters that 
are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 

There is only one river spoken of, and it is men- 
tioned again and again, but the word is apparently 
supplied by the translators : — 

The fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and 
the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. 

It will be seen that a single river is always put 
in the text. But in verse 1 9 it says : — 

And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, 
and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their 
streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their 
pools of water, that they may become blood ; and that there may be 
blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in 
vessels of stone. 

But that there is only one river is obvious : it is 
the Nile, and it alone : — 

And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he 
lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the 
sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants ; and all the waters 
that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in 
the river died ; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink 
of the water of the river ; and there was blood throughout all the land 
of Egypt. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for 
water to drink ; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 



Here, in the text, " river " is found, although in 
the 19th verse the word is used in the plural. The 



xvui.] WANT OF WATER IN THE NILE. 407 

great plague now to be feared in Egypt is want of 
water in the river. "Without water there are plagues, 
pestilences, and famine in the land ; and with plenty 
of water Egypt waxes fat exceedingly, and her people 
are contented and prosperous. 



h h 2 



CHAPTER XIX. 



BOUND FOE, GREECE. GALL1POLI. THE GOLDEN HORN. 

— PROCESSION TO THE MOSQUE. — VISIT TO THE 
HAREM. SCUTARI CEMETERY. MR. AND MRS. WIL- 
LIAMS, BEYLER BEY. MUSTAPHA EAZIL PASHA. 

March 29th, Easter Monday. — Fair breeze ; fine 
day. Canvas aloft and alow. At 8 p.m. we were 
off Rhodes. The Ariadne running ten knots an 
hour, with Psyche in company, went staggering 
along through the crisping waves, all her sails 
set to stu n'sails. One of the gazelles succumbed 
to the sea change and to the disagreeable novelties 
of life between decks. The Eev. Mr. Onslow read 
prayers on the main deck ; the Prince and suite, 
officers, and ship's company attending. Whilst 
we were exulting in the unusual good fortune of 
the Ariadne in having a fair wind — whew ! flap 
went our canvas aloft against the mast, and round 
came the breeze, so that sail after sail was taken in, 
and we soon had a light head sea to contend 
against. The Princess, although not unwell, felt 
more comfortable in her cabin than in the saloon, or 
in the glass house on deck. 



chap, xix.] THE DARDANELLES. 409 

March 30th. — We are among the " Isles of Greece." 
Daylight revealed Patmos, a dark patch on the blue 
sea, edged with white foam. Levitha came next in 
succession. At 9 a.m. running by Mcaria ; at noon, 
Khios. A light head wind. As it was not desirable 
to reach the Dardanelles before daybreak we reduced 
our speed. The Psyche preceded us, but gradually 
dropped nearer, and in the evening both vessels were 
coasting the low land of the Troad on the starboard 
beam, almost invisible in the haze. 

March 31st. — And here we are in the Dardanelles ! 
It is 10 a.m. There is the Castle of Asia on our 
starboard bow, and the Castle of Europe on our port, 
and we are coming to our anchorage. The Forts on 
both shores salute from manned parapets as we anchor. 
When the Ariadne brought up, his Excellency the 
Hon. H. Elliot, attended by Mr. Lionel Moore, 
Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Wrench, the Yice-Consul, 
came on board from the Caradoc, which had 
come down with them from Constantinople. The 
Sultan's steam-yacht, Pertif Piali, brought down 
Eaouf Pasha, Grand Ecuyer, who was prompt to 
pay his respects on the part of His Imperial Majesty, 
and to arrange for the arrival of the Eoyal travellers. 
Presently the Prince and the gentlemen of the 
party, in plain clothes, went off in the Ariadne's 



470 THE BIG GUNS. [chap. 

barge, under a general salute from ships and forts, 
to the landing-place at Chanak. Here the Prince 
was received by Eyoub Pasha, Military Governor ot 
the Dardanelles, Staff, and a guard of honour : after 
an interchange of compliments the Prince proceeded 
to the interior of the Castle. 

A monster gun was got ready, and the Prince 
and suite took their places on the parapet to see 
the shot fired. One of the five guns which, 
wrought such mischief on Sir J. Duckworth's squad- 
ron when he escaped down the Dardanelles after 
his inglorious exhibition off Constantinople was 
selected for the purpose. It has nine shot marks 
on it; so the gunners think it has given proof of 
its lasting properties. The charge was 44 lbs. of 
powder; the stone shot vary in density, but gene- 
rally weigh about 610 lbs. At the word "fire" in 
Turkish, which sounded like our old Indian friend 
"ateesh," the projectile flew like a giant cricket-ball, 
touched the water 300 yards from the muzzle, 
drove up a vast column of spray, and then in 16 
beautiful ricochets bounded over towards the Euro- 
pean side, and at the end of 20 seconds, sank in a 
gulf of foam, about If mile away. The Pasha was 
resolved his Royal visitor should not go away dis- 
satisfied. Rarely has the gun been fired twice run- 



xix.] THE STONE SHOT. 471 

ning ; but the spectacle appeared to please the Prince 
so much, that in a few seconds the Dardanelles once 
more re-echoed to a roar which could not have been 
exceeded by the report of Baron de Tott's great 
ordnance. This time the elevation was altered, and 
the shot only made 13 ricochets before it asto- 
nished the fishes by its downward rush to the bottom. 
In two minutes the gun was again loaded, and a 
third shot was hurled still farther than the others, 
and nearly landed on the shore far down below us, in 
11 tremendous leaps, which it made in 19 seconds. 

It was remarked that the Turkish Government 
is not at all in different to the risks of war, if one 
may judge from the activity in throwing up earth- 
works and batteries on both sides of the Darda- 
nelles. The Turks have mounted one, and are 
about to mount another, of the large Armstrong 
guns lately presented to the Sultan by the Queen. 

The Prince took leave of the Governor, and 
returned to the ship under the same honours — 
salutes from forts — as marked his landing, and in 
another hour the Ariadne, followed by the Psyche, 
Caradoc, and Pertif Piali, was stemming the current 
between Sestos and Abydos, and the flotilla anchored 
off Grallipoli at 6 p.m. 

As the Ariadne was seen slowly steaming in 



472 GALLIPOLL [chap. 

towards the old landing-place, trie people flocked to 
the water's edge ; and by the time her boats were 
in the water to take the Prince and his party ashore 
there was a large crowd at the qnay. The Pasha 
sent down an officer, and the British Yice-Consul 
was in attendance, to receive His Royal Highness, 
who set off at once, through the narrow streets, to 
visit the burial-grounds, followed by a multitude ol 
timid-looking Christians. The cavasses kept them 
back ; but a few contrived with bated breath to 
whisper that times had changed since the Allies had 
departed, and to declare that the present Governor 
was guilty of great oppression. They looked dejected 
and miserable enough. Though Gallipoli has been 
so purged by fire that I could scarcely recognize the 
street in which my dreary old quarters were situated, 
there is the impress of decay on the town. The 
British Cemetery is a moundy patch of weeds and 
thistles, surrounded by a stone wall. One tablet 
alone is standing, and it records the death of " Lance- 
Corporal Ball, 44th Eegiment ." It is a miserable 
place, and I sought in vain for some record of the 
men who died whilst our troops were encamped there, 
before the expedition was concentrated at Varna. The 
party, skirting the town and getting a view of the 
ridge over the old lines of Bulair, went next to the 



xix.] CONSTANTINOPLE IN SIGHT. 473 

French. Cemetery. It is in better order than ours. 
The Prince spent some time in examining the inscrip- 
tions on the tombs. On a marble slab, at the end of 
which is a large cross, he read, " Ici repose Michel 
Louis Felix Ney, Due d'Elchingen, General de 
Brigade; ne a Paris, 22 Avril, 1804; decede a, 
Gallipoli, 14 Juillet, 1854. Priez Dieu pour lui." 
A brave soldier, bearing a striking likeness to the 
great Marshal, much regretted by the whole army. 
Beside him rests another French general — Carabuccia. 
There are several other graves with tablets in tolerable 
preservation, mostly those of officers of "La Legion 
Etrangere." On returning to the landing-place, the 
Prince found the Pasha with a guard of honour to 
pay his respects. The Ariadne, under easy steam, 
with the other ships in company, crossed the Sea of 
Marmora in the course of the night. 

Thursday, April 1st. — At 8 o'clock in the morning 
the minarets and mosques of Constantinople were 
visible about five miles ahead. Three tugs, with 
flags flying, came down laden with British residents, 
which were followed by some half-dozen others after- 
wards, filled with people whose curiosity or loyalty 
was not fastidious or delicate. They ran close to the 
windows of the sleeping saloons. " God save the 
Queen," cheers, and the voices of little children sing- 



474 THE GOLDEN HORN. [chap. 

ing English, hymns on board, greeted the Eoyal 
tourists. At 9 a.m. the Ariadne was three miles off 
the Golden Horn, — wind fresh, snn bright, day cold. 
The Prince and suite came on deck in full uniform ; 
the Princess joined them almost immediately. On 
the appearance of the Princess, the cheers were 
renewed with fervour by the tugs. There was a 
guard, of honour of Marines on the deck, under 
Captain Poore ; all the officers were in full uniform. 
The barge and gig were lowered, and the Eoyal 
party went off to the Pertif Piali, in order to gratify 
the Sultan by arriving in the waters of Constan- 
tinople in his yacht. As their Eoyal Highnesses 
were piped over the side the barge put off, and 
the men on the yards cheered; presently, from the 
Turkish iron-clads, colours flying, yards manned, up 
the Bosphorus, and from the battery at Seraglio 
Point, rolled out a Eoyal salute, and on the dancing 
waters swarmed caiques and steam-boats. Some of 
the tugs were positively scandalous in their atten- 
tions, and the swell caused by their paddles nearly 
capsized the gig, and caused one to reflect on the fate 
which must await a Life Guardsman " with harness 
on his back," and any of his friends to whom he may 
attach himself in the water, in case of an upset. After 
the Pertif Piali, with the Eoyal Standard flying, fol- 



xix.] THE GRAND VIZIER. 475 

lowed by the Ariadne and Psyche, arrived abreast of 
the Palace of Saleh Bazaar, she brought up. The 
State caique of the Sultan, the most lovely of floating 
creations, with fourteen caiquejees in silk shirts, fol- 
lowed by three grand caiques, came alongside with 
the Grand Vizier Aali Pasha and Khamil Bey, Grand 
Master of the Ceremonies. They were in their state 
dresses, Quaker-cut frocks of blue cloth very richly 
embroidered, or rather crusted, with gold lace, and 
wore stars, ribands, and crosses of orders, and but 
for the fez, might pass for diplomatical Christians 
anywhere. Aali Pasha is a very small, slight, sallow- 
faced man, with two very penetrating honest-looking 
eyes. He has a delicate air, and looks timorous and 
nervous ; and his standing attitude is one of rather 
imbecile deference to everybody, but in the presence 
of the Sultan this becomes almost prostration. Yet, 
he is courageous, bold, enlightened, honest, and just ; 
full of zeal for the interests of his country, and unceas- 
ing in his efforts for its improvement. Khamil Bey, 
the Grand Master of the Ceremonies, who came to do 
the agreeable, is a pleasant little man of the roly-poly 
order of human architecture, with a flow of colloquial 
Trench, and ideas to match; very inquisitive and 
" spry," as an American would say ; fond of his 
cigarette, his chat, his beads. He is highly connected, 



476 SALEH BAZAAR. [chap. 

and is excellently qualified for his place, although his 
face always wore an expression of agonized anxiety 
at every function, as though he expected an order 
for execution every instant. In addition to Eaouf 
Pasha, the Grand Ecuyer — tall, limber, and rather 
solemn — a most excellent and obliging officer, always 
ready, at a moment's notice, to oblige us with a 
mount on any number of unmanageable horses, 
there were attached to their Eoyal Highnesses, Mu- 
zafer Bey, Ecuyer of the Sultan, a very agree- 
able and amiable Pole, and two officiers d' or don- 
nance in waiting, Spiridon Trad Bey and Talib Bey, 
the most gorgeous persons of the suite — Maronites, 
handsome, fat, not very spiritual, the sight of whom 
in full uniform — turbans of white, scarlet-backed 
jackets, scarlet vests, more gold than anything else, 
cloth- of- gold belts, jewelled scimitars, blue trousers 
knickerbocker-like, and tunics twice as baggy, falling 
over wrinkled bright patent leather boots — "is a joy 
for ever." The careless nomenclators called them 
Spiridian and Meridian. The Royal party, embarking 
amid tremendous cheers from tugs and boats and ships, 
were rowed in the caiques to the landing-place of the 
Palace of Saleh Bazaar, where the band of a regi- 
ment of Imperial Guards playing " God save the 
Queen," a guard of honour, a crowd of officers, and 



xix.] DOLMABAKSHL 477 

a gorgeous staff received them. Their Eoyal High- 
nesses were met at the steps of the Palace by the 
Sultan in full uniform. The Grand Vizier, Aali 
Pasha, acted as interpreter. His Majesty, after many 
gracious speeches, led them up the grand staircase, 
and showed them the rooms prepared for them, 
which were not only very rich, but very comfortable. 
Then he took leave, and the Eoyal party had time 
to look about them, and rest for a while. 

After a short period devoted to settling down, 
the Prince and [the gentlemen of the suite were 
driven in the Sultan's carriages to the Dolmabakshi 
Palace, higher up the Bosphorus, where they were 
received by troops and a band of the Guard. On 
alighting the Prince was met by the Sultan at 
the entrance, and led into one of the splendid 
apartments of the Palace, the approaches to which 
were lined by the servants of the Imperial house- 
hold. The Prince presented the gentlemen and 
Captain Campbell and Sir F. Blackwood to the 
Sultan. The Prince took leave after a short con- 
versation, and was accompanied by the Sultan to 
the threshold of the Palace, and returned with the 
party to Saleh Bazaar. After luncheon His Eoyal 
Highness and the Princess, Mrs. Grey, and suite, 
drove to the British Embassy, where they were 



478 VISIT TO THE EMBASSY, [chap. 

received by the Ambassador and Mrs. Elliot and the 
members of the Embassy. The visit of the Prince 
and Princess lasted till nearly 6 o'clock. As the}?' 
returned, in the Sultan's carriages, a large number 
of people assembled along the route, and saluted in 
silence • but they were not at all enthusiastic ac- 
cording to our ideas, though they were very 
respectful according to their own. 

There is a great change in the materiel and 
personnel of Constantinople. After the great fire 
of '64, orders were given that no houses of wood 
should be erected in future, and there are great open 
spaces yet to be filled up in Stamboul. There is gas 
in all the main streets on both sides of the Grolden 
Horn. The water supply is abundant. But the 
change in the aspect of the population is not so 
gratifying to the eye. The grand old turban is 
rarely seen. Moolahs and "fanatics " — i.e., men who 
believe — are the only people who wear them ; and 
the fez, in all its ugliness, is the universal substitute. 
The women have discarded the great yellow pa- 
pooshes or slippers, and toddle about in patent 
leather spring boots of the newest Frankish fashion ; 
but they still retain the most charming of all dresses, 
though we hear that crinolines are not unknown 
beneath these flowing robes of silk. There is an 



xix.l THE SULTAN'S BAND. 479 

excellent and numerous police force. The " sick 
man/' to trie outward eve, has shaken off all signs 
of the incurable disease from which he was supposed 
to be suffering so dreadfully, and to-day the Turk 
could put 800,000 men into the field. The troops 
are well equipped, and armed with Sniders. The 
artillery are provided with steel muzzle -loading 
rifle guns, made in the Constantinople arsenals. 
Hobart Pasha is reorganizing the navy with energy, 
and there are now four heavy ironclads in the 
Bosphorus, which look fit for any work that may 
be demanded of them. 

The dinner at Saleh Bazaar, served on gold and 
silver plate, was in all respects admirable. The 
Sultan's band, under Gruatelli Pasha, in the saloon 
outside, quite astonished the company by its excellent 
rendering of operatic music ; when the musicians, 
facing about, played "God save the Queen" and 
retired, every one was so tired, there was a general 
desire to follow their example. 

Friday, April 2nd. — Our breakfast at Saleh Bazaar 
this morning was very good and well served. The 
servants speak French or Italian. Mr. Moore and 
the Sultan's Ecuyers were invited to table. 

Comparisons, we are told, are always odious ; 
sometimes they are not possible ; occasionally they 



4S0 OUR ATTENDANTS. [chai\ 

may be impolitic. Nothing can be better in 
taste, substance, and spirit than the reception given 
hj the Sultan to the Prince and Princess. After a 
short excursion through the streets in the suite of 
the Poyal visitors, it made us shudder to think of 
Wimbledon. Saleh Bazaar is beautifully situated on 
the edge of the Bosphorus, above Tophaneh and below 
the Imperial residence at Dolmabakshi. There are 
guards of honour, carriages, saddle-horses, caiques, 
and an immense staff of servants for ever on duty. 
The band of eighty-four admirable musicians, all 
Turks taught by an Italian, play charmingly every 
evening at dinner; Signor Guatelli, the band-master, 
is a Pasha, and there are no less than twenty 
officers of different ranks, from that of lieutenant- 
colonel down to lieutenant, in the band. The table 
is covered with gold and silver plate. Every 
morning there come presents from the Sultan ot 
the most exquisite flowers, and trays laden with 
the finest fruit. The valetaille, in liveries of green 
and gold, with white cuffs and collars, throng the 
passages and corridors, and black-coated chibouquejees 
are ready at a clap of the hands to bring in pipes, 
with amber mouth-pieces of fabulous value, crested 
with hundreds of diamonds and rubies, and coffee in 
tiny cups, which fit into stands blazing with similar 



xix.] THE LEAST WISH AN ORDER. 481 

jewels. The cuisine cannot be surpassed, and the 
wines are of most celebrated vintages. All the 
persons attached to the palace speak French or 
English. There are Turkish baths inside, ready at a 
moment's notice. Equerries, aides-de-camp, officers 
of the Body Guard, radiant in gold lace and scarlet, 
in blue and in silver lace, nit about the saloons and 
corridors. Human nature can scarce sustain the load 
of obligations imposed on it by such attention. If 
the Prince's caique is seen on the w r ater, guards are 
turned out along all the batteries, and the strains of 
music are borne on every breeze that blows. Yards 
are manned, and crews turned out on the slightest 
provocation. The least wish is an order. It appears 
that the Sultan retains lively recollections of his own 
reception in England, and desires to express his sense 
of it ; and his subjects are, we hear, equally anxious 
that the guests of His Majesty should feel they are 
conscious of the honours that were paid to him, and 
of the friendly offices of Great Britain in their time 
of trouble. 

The Sultan went in state to the Mosque in 
honour of his guests to-day. In fine weather he 
generally goes by water. Visitors to Constantinople 
know how pretty it is to see the Imperial caique, all 
gold and white, with its attendant flotilla, flying 

I I 



482 PROCESSION TO THE MOSQUE. [chap. 

against the stream of the Bosphorus, amid the 
salutes of the forts and shipping, and the low 
reverences of the people who line the banks. 
There was a land procession on this occasion, and 
an unusual display of state and of troops to do 
honour to the Prince and Princess. At 12.30 the 
Koyal party were driven in three of the Imperial 
carriages, preceded by outriders, and with, two officers 
of the Sultan's Body Guard in attendance, to Beshik 
Jool, one of the palaces on the Bosphorus, which 
looks out on the street or thoroughfare through 
which the Sultan had to pass. There was a line of 
infantry on each side of the way, and a body of 
Circassian cavalry, in front of which a military band 
was stationed, near the palace. The Prince, Princess, 
and suite were conducted to a beautiful room, exqui- 
sitely furnished and decorated by French artists. 
Panels in a vaulted roof of fretted gold contained 
very good paintings of lions, tigers, and deer. Off 
this rich apartment there was a conservatory — with a 
marble fountain in the midst playing softly into a 
reservoir filled with gold-fish — the windows of which 
also looked down on the street. Pipes and coffee were 
served, and a buffet in the corner, covered with plate, 
wine, fruit, and confectionary, was dressed for those 
who needed refreshment of a more solid or liquid 



xix.] TURKISH WOMEN. 483 

character. Drinks of sherbet, delicate confections of 
orange-juice and violets, were handed to Her Eoyal 
Highness and Mrs. Grey. The sloping ground 
at the other side of the road, broken into small 
patches of grass divided by low walls, was filled by 
groups of women in the wonderful hues which 
Orientals know how to arrange in the most ex- 
quisite combinations by some instinctive operation 
of taste, so that the fields were like beds of animated 
flowers of the most beautiful colours. It is easy to 
perceive that reform, if change be entitled always to 
the name, has been at work in the capital of Turkey 
since the allied armies were here. The yashmaks or 
veils are now made of the finest muslin, like " the 
woven wind of Dacca," which, when the contour is 
good and the complexion wanting in tone or brilliancy, 
more often lends to than detracts from the beauty 
of the face. Over this milk-white foil the black 
but rather bead -like eyes flash from under the 
straight painted eyebrows with no doubtful lustre 
or expression. Will fashion ever import this delicate 
lure into Europe^? There can be no question of its 
efficacy in many cases which cannot be cured by the 
ordinary Paris modistes. But the barrier to what 
we call civilization, opposed by religion and by cus- 
tom in all that concerns the social life of women, is 

i i 2 



484 THE SULTAN. [chap. 

as strong as ever, notwithstanding the fineness of 
the yashmak. The hour of noon was fixed npon 
for the function, but it was near 1 o'clock before 
the Sultan, in whom all interest centred, made his 
appearance. First, a body of Circassian horse, in 
black sheepskin caps with scarlet tops, dark green 
caftans, and long boots, armed with carbine, sword, 
and pistol (officers with white sheepskin caps), riding 
hard - bitted unruly horses. Then officers in full 
uniform on foot, two-and-two, and persons attached 
to the person of Prince Izzedin — then the young gen- 
tleman himself. His little Highness carried a naked 
sword in his hand, and wore the star on his breast, and 
over his uniform of blue and gold, the green riband, 
of the Osmanieh Order. The Turks are becoming 
quite civilized in some of their practices. He is 
colonel of a regiment, this little Prince, and he was 
walking on foot to take up his place and salute his 
father as he passed in front of it. Officers bearing 
cushions and carpets followed the Prince ; then there 
was another pause, during which nothing in particular 
occurred, though there was plenty to observe in the 
crowd below. A blast of a trumpet, repeated along 
the ranks, gave notice of the approach of the Sultan. 
The appearance of the great man himself was grand 
indeed. Grave — almost melancholy, he bears him- 



xix.] OMAR PASHA. 485 

self witli a severe dignity, which his portliness of 
person does not impair. His Majesty wore a very 
splendid military uniform, and his jewelled orders 
and sabre-hilt shone highly in the sun. His horse 
was a marvel of beauty in its way, and all admitted 
they had never seen such a coat and colour ; it 
looked like grey burnished steel with a multitude of 
speckles on it, perhaps it resembled more nearly a 
sheet of polished granite. His Majesty was preceded 
by the Ministers of State, and by a crowd of officers, 
splendidly mounted, conspicuous among whom was 
Omar Pasha, wearing the riband and star of the 
Bath, and resplendent with jewelled decorations. 
Cries of " Long live the Sultan " in Turkish, greeted 
His Majesty, and the troops presented arms, and 
the music played, and the trumpets and drums 
flourished and rolled. The pageant passed, and the 
Royal party waited some time for the return of 
the Sultan from the mosque. In the interval, 
however, the little Prince Izzedin, accompanied 
by the Seraskier, came to visit the Prince and 
Princess. He is an intelligent but delicate-looking 
lad. They do not care much to burden his early 
years with learning, for His Highness has not yet 
learnt — perhaps he is not to learn — French, or any 
European language. Omar Pasha stationed himsel 



4S6 THE SWEET WATERS. [chap. 

opposite the Palace, and a defile of the troops was 
executed. About 3,500 men went past, led by the 
Circassian cavalry of the Guard, whose trot was very 
irregular indeed. The men are not as large as the 
Egyptian troops, but their marching was very good, 
and if the officers were equal to the rank and file, 
the Turks could give to-day a good account of any 
enemy not much superior in number. On returning 
to the Palace of Saleh Bazaar, a deputation of 
British residents was presented, headed by Mr. Han- 
son, who read a loyal address, to which the Prince 
made a suitable reply. Like most deputations, they 
were bald-headed, immensely respectable, and very 
tedious men, in evening clothes and white ties, 
and full of professions of loyalty. After luncheon 
we went to the Sweet Waters in the Sultan's caique, 
but were rather late. At the Kiosk, alighting for 
pipes and coffee, the party divided, and made a 
turn through the Sweet- Water Gardens and Park, 
the Princess, Mrs. Grey, and others getting into open 
landaus, the Prince and some of the gentlemen taking 
the saddle-horses in readiness. The day was not 
bright nor warm. It needs sun to light up the 
animated garden, where every flower is supposed to 
be a beauty. It strikes me the flowers are more 
animated than they used to be, that the black beard- 



xix.] THEATRE NA TIM. 487 

less gentlemen in attendance are less strict, and that 
propriety of demeanour is not so much cultivated 
as it was in the time of Plancus the Consul. In 
the evening there was a grand representation at 
the Theatre Naoum, where an Italian company was 
retained specially by the Sultan for this occasion. 
The " Prophete " was " executed " before a very 
full house ; the spectators did not stare as much at 
the Sultan's box and its distinguished occupants as 
most European audiences would have done. 

April 3rd. — The climate of Constantinople is not 
to be trusted even in summer. In April it is 
" varium et mutabile semper." The morning was 
sunless and cold, and the wind brought down sou- 
venirs of Black Sea storms and fog on chilly wings, 
which swept over the Bosphorus, and changed the 
dancing blue sea into slaty gray. Early in the fore- 
noon the British Ambassador, assisted by Mr. Moore, 
introduced and presented to the Prince M. Bouree 
(France), General Ignatieff (Russia), Baron Prokesch 
Osten (Austria), Ambassadors, the resident Ministers, 
and Roumanian and Servian Agents. At half-past 
11 o'clock the Prince and Princess embarked with 
their suite, and proceeded in three caiques to the 
quay at Seraglio Point, where a guard of honour 
was drawn up, and all along the course of the 



488 SERAGLIO POINT. [chap. 

water-way, they were treated with the same respect 
at every point where guards are stationed. 

The Stamboul of fourteen years ago is clean 
gone the way of many great cities. Fire has 
searched it out, so that in a few years, perhaps, all 
that was Oriental in the external aspect of the 
city, saving the mosques and minarets, will be 
improved off the face of the earth ; but it will be 
long, if ever, before the dwellers therein can be so 
changed. There have been several fires in the city 
lately, and there is an uneasy suspicion that these 
incendiary outbreaks are Governmental measures to 
encourage architecture ; but on some accounts it is 
to be feared that a movement to produce such a 
result will do more harm than good. 

A few years ago, the Palace of the Byzantine 
Emperors went, and with it that worm-eaten- 
looking labyrinth of intensely picturesque tumble- 
down bazaars and ramshackle houses, which ren- 
dered the ancient quarter of Stamboul so delightful 
to look at and so horrible to live in. Some 
of the old buildings, enclosed by wall and 
sea, still exist at Seraglio Point. The party set 
out to visit the Kiosk and the other buildings 
which lie close together, the Prince and Princess 
in a carriage, the others on foot, as it was worth 



xix.] THE BAGDAD KIOSK. 4-9 

while to endure the steep ascent from the "Water Gate 
for the sake of the prospect. The Bagdad Kiosk, the 
Treasury, the Library, everything except the Holy 
Place where rests the Standard of the Prophet, never 
to be seen by Christian eve, unless it be unfurled 
against him in battle, were laid open to the visitors. 
The view from the Kiosk, looking 1 out on the Golden 
Horn towards the Sweet Waters on one side, up the 
Bosphorus, and across to Scutari on the eastern face, 
and then up the Sea of ]\Iarmora and its islands on 
the south, may fairly be called one of the most beau- 
tiful in the world. There was a want of light and 
shadow to bring out the full charms of the scene; 
but still there was enough to be seen to justify the 
choice of Constantine, the tenacity of the Turk, the 
longing of the Oriental Christian. From the build- 
ings at Seraglio Point we drove off in landaus- 
and-four to the Great Mosque of St. Sophia, and 
were shown the interior from the Sultan's "pew/ 3 
which is screened by lattice-work from the vulgar 
eves below. At the Seraskieriate, which was 
visited after the mosque, Hossein Pasha, Seraskier 
(fresh from Crete), and Omar Pasha, Generalissimo, 
were awaiting their Royal Highnesses. A march 
past of a couple of battalions and a steel battery 
of four guns took place, after which the party sat 



490 THE SULTAN'S DINNER. [chap. 

down to lunch in the Hall, the Seraskier and Omar 
Pasha "being seated at the side of the Prince and 
Princess. Omar Pasha gave " The Health of the 
Queen," which was drunk by all the company up- 
standing. The Prince proposed " The Health of 
the Sultan," which was duly honoured in the same 
way. Thence the Royal party went to visit the 
armoury and costumes of the Janizaries, the Mosque 
of Sultan Achmet, and proceeded homewards over 
the Bridge of Galata through the Bazaar, an im- 
mense gathering of people — said, indeed, to have 
constituted the largest "crowd" ever seen in Tur- 
key — in the streets along their route. But the 
great event was yet to come — the State dinner of 
the Saltan at Dolmabakshi Palace. This was the 
first banquet ever given by the Sultan to Christians. 
It was remarkable, also, as being the first occasion 
on which any Minister, except a Grand Vizier, ever 
sat down in a Sultan's presence. 

The Prince and Princess reached the Palace 
shortly before 7 p.m., and were received by Aali 
Pasha, who conducted them into the grand drawing- 
room where the Ministers of the Sublime Porte were 
presented. The Turkish functionaries present were 
Aali Pasha, Mehemet Kiprisily, Mustapha Kiritly, 
Kiamil, Omar, Rushdi Mehemet (Interior), Djevded, 



xix.] THE MENU. 491 

Hussein Avni, Mahmoud, and Halil, Pashas. The 
Sultan entered shortly afterwards, and, giving his 
arm to the Princess, led the way to the dining- 
room, the Prince following with Madame Ignatieff, 
succeeded by the Eussian Ambassador and Mrs. 
Elliot, M. Bouree with the Hon. Mrs. Grey, and 
the other guests in order. The Princess wore a 
dress of blue satin, with a coiffure of pearls and 
diamonds. The table was an oblong, and at the 
rounded upper end — without a vis-a-vis — sat the 
Sultan, with the Princess on his right and the 
Prince on his left, the Grand Yizier on the right 
of the Princess, Mrs. Elliot next, then General 
Ignatieff, Mr. Elliot on his left, and below him 
the Turkish Ministers. On the left of the table 
Madame Ignatieff sat next the Prince, then M. 
Bouree, with the Hon. Mrs. Grey on his left, and 
below her the other Ministers. The table was laid 
for twenty-four, and was glorious with plate and 
flowers. The dinner-room is renowned for its exqui- 
site decorations, and, above all. for its candelabra 
and lustres in rock crystal. 

The menu of the Imperial dinner was sufficiently 
curious. It will be seen the dishes were of two 
kinds — Turkish and French : — 

Potage Sevigne, Croquettes et Beurek, Poisson (levrek) a lTniperiale, 
Filets de Bcsuf a la Jardiniere, Midia-ile Yalandji Dolma, Filets de 



492 VISIT TO THE HARE 31. [chap. 

Chevreuil, Zeytoun-Yaghli Enghinar, Turban de Volaille a la Princesse, 
Kiata-Barbunia, Foie Gras en Belle Vue, Asperges, Punch a la Romaine, 
Faisans et Becassines, Pilav, Ananas a la Victoria, Kai'kmakly, Tel 
Cadai'f, Timbales a la Sicilienne, Tauk Gueuk-su, Fromage glace. 
Vins — Xeres, Sauterne, Bordeaux, Lafitte, Vin du Rhin (avec les plats 
froids), et Champagne frappe. 

During dinner His Majesty chatted with the 
Princess — Aali Pasha serving as interpreter — 
and with the Prince, through Aarifi Bey, the 
first dragoman, who stood near the Sultan's chair 
for the purpose. His Majesty's private band 
played throughout in an adjoining chamber. On 
rising from table the Sultan gave his arm to the 
Princess, and conducted her and the other ladies 
to the Imperial Harem, where they were received 
by the Valide Sultana and the first kadin, Madame 
Mihran Bey acting as interpreter. The Prince 
and the other gentlemen withdrew to a smoking- 
room. His Majesty rejoined the Prince later 
in a smaller drawing-room, and conversed till 
the Princess and the other ladies had finished 
their causerie in the Harem. Their Eoyal High- 
nesses took leave of His Majesty about 10.30 p.m.; 
and thus ended a banquet which must be regarded 
as an " event" in the social history of the country. 

Sunday, April 4th. — The Eoyal party attended 
Divine service in the church of the British Embassy. 
They were driven there in three open carriages, four 



xix.] CHURCH AT THE EMBASSY. 493 

horses each, ridden by postilions, and preceded by 
outriders, officers of trie Body Gruard and aides-de-camp 
of tbe Sultan. The windows and streets were filled 
with people. The Prince and Princess were received 
by the Ambassador and Mrs. Elliot at the porch, 
and were led to the church, which was crowded. 
At the conclusion of the service by the chaplain, 
the Eev. Mr. Grribble, the Eoyal party sat down 
to luncheon at the Embassy, and then returned 
to the Palace. At 3.30 the Prince and Princess 
and suite embarked in the Sultan's state caique 
and in three other caiques, and were rowed across 
the Bosphorus to inspect the Cemetery at Scutari. 
The clouds which had been sailing down from the 
Black Sea in the afternoon gave promise of rain, 
which was fulfilled soon after the visitors entered the 
enclosure. A crowd, for the most part European, 
received them at the little pier, and groups of ladies 
and gentlemen were in waiting inside the wall. Ser- 
geant Lyne, who is in charge of the Cemetery, seems 
intelligent and active, but he has only two men to 
help him. Some monuments there are certainly 
which need cleansing, and it would seem as if the 
men employed did not work very hard. There is no 
niggardly treatment of the superintendent, if the sum 
mentioned as his annual stipend were correctly stated ; 



494 THE SCUTARI CEMETERY. [chap. 

but the object for which he is placed at Scutari is 
that the monuments may be kept in order, and 
if the home authorities do not pay attention to re- 
presentations on that point, the public money is 
thrown away. In spite of the rain, which began to 
fall rather heavily, the Prince and Princess went over 
the Cemetery with attention, and examined the brief 
records of the lives and services of those who sleep 
so quietly beneath their marble slabs on the green 
slope which overhangs the sea near to that terrible 
charnel-house — the barrack hospital of Scutari. The 
most remarkable object in the Cemetery is the monu- 
ment to the dead who fell " fighting for their country 
in the war against Russia in 1854, 1855, and 1856," 
as the tablets ought to record on each face of the 
quadrilateral plinth. The gilding of the incised 
letters of the inscription was so ill done, however, 
that the words are almost illegible, except that in 
French, which is on the western face. Admirers of 
the works of Marochetti will point to the fine 
expression and beauty of the four female figures at 
the angles of the quadrilateral which supports the 
simple obelisk above — a copy in petto of the Luxor 
Column ; but it must be admitted that the general 
effect of the work as a whole is rather paltry. The 
total cost, including transport, &c, was, we learn with 



xix.] MR. AND MRS. WILLIAMS. 495 

wonder, £17,500, which is assuredly a good deal of 
money. There are eighty-six graves marked by 
tombstones or tablets, but the nameless dead lie in 
solemn rank and file under the sward from end to 
end of the place, with not a line to mark their 
resting-places quia carent vate sacro.* 

April 5th. — Perhaps this day week some clever old 
merchant will have a dim perception that he has 
been tremendously duped, and the Bazaars will re- 
sound with lamentations. Who could that Mr. and 
Mrs. "Williams have been? he asked himself at the 
time. He thought the young man must have been 
and was evidently a chelebee of importance. And as 
for Mrs. Williams ! Assuredly she is a very gracious 
lady. The things they bought ! And how plea- 
santly they bargained and laughed with the shop- 
keepers ! How Mr. Williams enjoyed his pipe, and 
how Mrs. Williams fascinated the hardest bargainer 
in all Stamboul ! Perhaps, in fact, the truth leaked 
out that very day — that some of the demure mer- 
chants were sufficiently alive to their own interests 
to charge Mr. and Mrs. Williams as if they were 
the Prince and Princess of Wales ! Anyway, it 
was a very pleasant expedition, and it gave the 

* In the Appendix will be found a list of the names and inscriptions 
on the tombs in the cemetery. 



496 THE BAZAARS. [chap. 

Prince and Princess considerable amusement. The 
Prince put on the most humble dress prince could 
wear, and the Princess and Mrs. Grey equally con- 
tributed to the innocent imposture, which went so 
far as to arrange that any gentlemen of the suite 
who might be in the bazaar, was to say, " How do 
you do, Mrs. Williams ? " if they met the party on 
their rounds. A hack carriage was engaged for 
the occasion, and one of the grand domestics of 
the Sultan himself was compelled to enter into 
the pleasant deception, and into the clothes of 
a hackney coachman. They were attended by Mr. 
Moore. On arriving at the Bazaar it was neces- 
sary to alight. It was not easy to walk, as the rain 
had converted the dust in the streets into mud, which 
lay like a conche of grease on the round slippery 
stones of the pavement ; but " Mrs. "Williams " per- 
severed, and strode along bravely over the unequal 
surface, now and then ankle-deep in the gutter. The 
visitors enjoyed all the Bazaar entertainments; tasted 
haraklakoum and mahalabee ; sipped sherbets and 
sweet drinks, and treated themselves to a dish of 
genuine "kibobs," which were highly approved of. 
The Prince, on his return, went out with Mr. 
Moore, and paid visits to Aali Pasha, the Grand 
Vizier, Mustapha Pazil Pasha, and Halil Pasha, re- 



xix.] mssmiE. 497 

turning to the Palace on foot. I sallied forth and 
paid a visit to "Missirie." He is a broken man, 
and his brave wife, now white-haired and much worn, 
told me a sad story of his losses. There is no hotel 
monopoly in Pera, and house rents are enormous. 
They ask £1,200 a-year for Missirie's premises, and 
there are few travellers — at least those who come 
can find plenty of accommodation elsewhere, for 
there are now hotels all over the place. "What 
a change since, with bated breath and whispering 
humbleness, we besought a room, even double- 
bedded, where one man had to pay for an ima- 
ginary friend ! After dinner the Royal party 
went to the Naoum Opera-house, and saw " Martha " 
astonishingly well sung and played and put upon 
the stage. Sir Alexander Buchanan — who, with 
Lady Buchanan, was on his way to England, 
from St. Petersburg — arrived to-day from Odessa, 
and in the evening he presented Mr. Hite- 
rowa, civil aide-de-camp to the Governor of New 
Eussia, who has been sent to arrange for the Royal 
visit to the Crimea. It was so chilly that mongols 
were quite welcome — immense braziers placed on 
brass trays, which are filled with charcoal. They 
stand three feet high, and are about two feet in 
diameter, and are so heavy that it needs two men to 

K K 



493 PALACE OF BEYLER BEY. [chap. 

lift them. The lieat diffused after an hour or so is 
very pleasant, but the mongol ought to be turned out 
at night. 

April 6th. — The early part of the day was de- 
voted to the Arms Bazaar, inspecting old armour 
and Turkish curiosities. There was also a func- 
tion to be performed, of leaving cards on ambas- 
sadors, ministers, and the diplomatic body, which, 
is always of the utmost rigour on such occasions. 
At half-past twelve the party started in fourteen- 
oared and ten-oared caiques, and proceeded up the 
Bosphorus, to the palace of Beyler Bey, which 
may be safely and shortly described as the most 
beautiful palace in the most beautiful situation in 
the world. 

The wind was cold and strong, and to avoid 
the force of the stream, the flotilla kept close 
to the European side. Ghiards of honour were 
visible in all directions, and the Ariadne, Psyche, 
and the four Turkish iron-clads, manned yards 
and sides as the Boyal Standard came in sight. 
The Turks did not mind us much, and some old 
fellows, as they went by in their caiques, did not 
even take the trouble of tuimin^ their heads to look 
at the Sultan's guests. 

In our progress we could not fail to observe 



xix.] THE NEW PALACE. 499 

that there was more than one palace on the edge 
of the Bosphorus, in addition to those of Dolnia- 




bakshi and Saleh Bazaar, belonging to the Sultan 
— in fact, there is now rapidly approaching com- 
pletion on the western bank, only a couple of 
miles above the former Imperial residences, an 
edifice which promises to perform the very difficult 
feat of exceeding in splendour, costliness, and elegance 
any of these wonderful fabrics. Gorgeous and 
ample as is the Palace of Beyler Bey, it is to be 
far excelled by the new Palace, which will have 
the advantage of a beautiful garden, menagerie 
and aviaries full of wild beasts, game, ostriches, 
birds, and thus furnish the Sultan with a favourite 
resort, of which his present abode at Dolmabakshi 
is destitute. It will not afford such a tine view as 
Beyler Bey, standing as that does on a curve of the 
Bosphorus, which washes its esplanade with a beau- 

K k 2 



500 TCHAM LIB J A . [chap. 

tiful force, to which " the blue rushing of the arrowy 
Eliine" is almost stagnancy. Nothing can surpass 
the interior in richness and, let it be added, taste. 
The Prince and Princess could not refrain from 
expressing well -justified admiration at the luxury and 
elegance of the furniture, and the fine proportions 
of the noble apartments. This Palace was to have 
been the residence of the Eoyal travellers, and it was 
with much regret the Sultan received the intelligence 
of their wise resolve to put up with the more acces- 
sible and convenient Palace of Saleh Bazaar, at the 
European side. Beyler Bey is sometimes difficult of 
access. Having examined with something like 
sorrow the suites of rooms they might have 
occupied, the Eoyal party, in eight open landaus, 
attended by outriders, were driven to Tchamlidja, 
the summer residence of Mustapha Fazil Pasha, 
brother of the Viceroy of Egypt, where they 
were entertained at a " luncheon," at which Mr. 
Elliot, Halil Bey and others, were present. As to 
the feast, it is enough to say that it rendered 
dinner a wantonness. Lucullian in cookery and in 
wines — as soon as Mustapha Fazil Pasha (who is an 
old acquaintance of the Prince) was assured that he 
would be honoured by receiving him, he telegraphed 
to Paris for the choicest fruit, and there it was in 



xix.] MUSTAPHA FAZIL PASHA. 501 

piles on the table — pine-apples, melons, apples, pears, 
the best Chevet could provide, all untouched. 

Mustapha Fazil is only a Turk in virtue of his fez. 
He is a very clever, bold, and subtle man, disguising 
his finesse under a brusque address, accentuated by 
exuberance of animal spirits, which breaks into the 
loudest laughter ; but he is not to my mind either a 
conspirator or the inspirer of conspiracies, although 
he would in any pursuit throw immense energy and 
will into the attainment of his object. Although his 
" manners are " not " mild," to " make a wash he 
would" not " boil a child;" but, if the child were boiled, 
he wo aid not object to the wash if he wanted it. What 
is more to the purpose, he is an ardent politician ; and, 
strange to say, he is, in his political convictions, a very 
advanced Eadical. To his eye, there is a rising wave 
on the horizon, which is coming on, slowly but surely, 
to swamp thrones, dominions, principalities, and 
powers under a democratic deluge. Strangest of all, 
he maintains that Mahometans have less to fear than 
Christian states, because the faith founded by Maho- 
met is, he says, essentially republican, and the head 
of the Church and of the people was elective, and 
chosen by universal suffrage. His brother exile is a 
man of very different aspect, bearing, and manner. 
Externally there is no resemblance between them ; 



502 HALIL BEY [chap. 

and the mental power of Halil is said to be very con- 
siderable and to be more acute than that of Mus- 
tapha, to whom he is, we hear, far inferior in the 
knowledge of finance, as his chief principle in money 
matters is to spend as much of it as possible. 

The Princess and Mrs. Grey paid a visit to the 
ladies of the Harem when the banquet was over, and 
pipes, the best we had yet smoked, and exquisite 
coffee and cigars were brought in. About 5 o'clock 
the Prince, Princess, and suite were driven in eight 
landaus, belonging to Mustapha Eazil, to the little 
bay near old Chalcedon (Kadi-koi), east of Scutari, 
and embarked in the Sultan's steam-yacht, Pertif 
Piali, in which they crossed the Bosphorus, and 
landed in safety, after a delightful day. But our 
work was not yet done. A State ball was given 
at the British Embassy, at which, to complete the 
measure of Imperial favour, the Padishah was to 
come. All the foreign Ambassadors and Ministers 
were present; 600 invitations were issued for the 
entertainment, and the gentlemen wore full uniform. 
The Prince and Princess arrived at the Embassy 
shortly after 9 o'clock, and were received by the 
Ambassador and Mrs. Elliot. Inside the gate, in the 
Court of the Embassy, was drawn up a body of the 
seamen of the Ariadne, who burnt red and blue 



xix.] BALL AT TEE EMBASSY. 503 

lights, on the arrival of the Boyal guests and of the 
Sultan. In the hall, which was draped with flags, a 
guard of honour of the Royal Marines was stationed, 
and the pavement of Pera resounded, for the first 
time since the Crimean war, to the tramp of British 
infantry. A profusion of beautiful flowers, exotics, 
and shrubs were displayed in the corridors, on the 
escalier, and in the rooms. 

The Sultan came late. A great train of Ministers 
and officers of State followed him. His Majesty 
was met at the threshold of the Embassy, which 
is of course British ground, by the Prince and 
his suite and by the Ambassador ; the Princess 
of Wales and Mrs. Elliot stood at the first landing to 
welcome him. As soon as the Sultan had taken his 
place on the dais, with the Prince and Princess by 
his side, there was a general movement to the scene 
of such an unusual apparition as that of the Padi- 
shah at a ball. The Prince and Princess, Mr. and 
Mrs. Elliot, General and Madame IgnatiefT, M. Bour- 
ree, &c, took part in the first dance, at which the 
Sultan gazed with serenity. He went away soon 
after midnight ; there was a continual supper served 
from 12 o'clock till any hour. It was daylight before 
the Boyal party retired and the ball was brought to 
a close. 



504 THE TOP HAN EH. [chap. 

April 7 tli. — Each day lias its labours of cere- 
monial, sight- seeing, feasting, visiting, and recep- 
tions, so that night comes on with a burden of sleep 
that cannot be denied, and the eyelids are scarcely 
well open in the morning before the duties of life 
begin imperiously again. Both the Prince and 
Princess are in excellent health, but the sudden 
change from the torrid sun and hot winds of Egypt 
to the cold and damp which now prevail is rather try- 
ing, and the Black Sea mists are charged with memo- 
ries of the land lying north. Mr. Elliot went to the 
Palace this morning to thank the Sultan for honour- 
ing the ball with his presence. His Majesty said 
he was quite delighted with it, and regretted that 
he could not offer similar entertainments. It was 
the first ball he had ever attended in his own 
country, and he was glad, he said, that it was at 
the British Embassy ; but then he suffered from the 
inconvenience of speaking no language but his own. 
" And whenever I wanted most to talk," said his 
Majesty, cc my interpreter " (Aali Pasha, the Grand 
Vizier,) "was generally absent." In the afternoon 
the Prince went to the Tophaneh (Arsenal), where he 
was received by Ali Pasha, the Master- General of the 
Ordnance, — who has had the advantage of a practical 
education at Woolwich, and has the art of getting 



xix.] THE BRITISH MEMORIAL CHURCH 505 

work done by Turkish, and of gaining the respect of 
English, artificers, — and spent more than an hour in 
examining the factories. The size of the buildings, 
the plant, and the work performed, came upon us by 
surprise. Spandau, in the opinion of officers who 
have recently inspected the Prussian establishment, 
is not to compare with this Turkish arsenal. There 
they were, Turks from all parts of Moslem land, 
engaged all hands forging guns, making cartridges, 
and preparing Snider ammunition, as if in the height 
of war ; but perhaps this was to show what could be 
done in case of need. The system of gun adopted is 
that known as the " Woolwich pattern," and the 
cartridges and shell fuses are after Boxer's recently 
improved patterns. The cheapness and excellence of 
the native iron and wood and labour give the Govern- 
ment great advantages. Ali Pasha presented the 
Prince with a most exquisite bronze gun, of old Vene- 
tain manufacture ; and, in addition to this weighty 
memento, two of the great stone shot from the Darda- 
nelles have been sent on board the Ariadne. Horses 
were in readiness outside the Arsenal, and the 
Prince and his party, when the inspection was over, 
mounted and rode to the British Memorial Church, 
where they were received by the chaplain, the Rev. 
J. Curtis. This pretty edifice was built after designs 



506 FETE AT THE THE ARTE NAOUM. [chap. 

by Mr. Street, and cost £19,000. Still another fete 
in the evening — a grand entertainment at the 
Theatre Naouin, which had occnpied the thoughts ot 
all Pera for days before — a theatre pare — such as 
the Turkish capital had never seen. This life of 
functions, however, becomes rather trying, although 
there is an excitement all its own about it. After 
dinner at the palace, the Sultan's carriages came 
round with an escort in state uniform — Eaouf Pasha, 
Muzafer Bey, Spiridon, and Talib in the butterfly 
stage. The streets were so crowded that it was diffi- 
cult to make way for the cortege at times, and the 
windows presented a mass of faces. The Princess 
was beautifully dressed; the Prince and suite were 
in full uniform. On their entering the state box, in 
the centre of the tier, all the audience rose, and it 
needed an effort to believe we were in Constan- 
tinople, so brilliant and Europeanized was the spec- 
tacle. There were no Moslem women, but Svrians, 
and Levantines, and Perotes, Greeks, and, above all, 
Armenian ladies shone in jewels and costly dresses. 
The Sultan, who looked very solemn and stately in 
his gilt clothing bepatched with diamond stars and 
orders, sat between the Prince and Princess, and the 
Grand Yizier stood behind his chair. Mustapha Fazil 
Pasha, Halil Pasha, in grande tenue, and ]\Irs. Grey, 



xix.] " VAFRICA1NE* 507 

occupied seats in the Imperial box. The piece 
selected was " L'Africaine," and the ambition which 
led the company to the choice was not justified by 
their performance. The face of the Father of the 
Faithful was a study as he gave his attention to the 
march of events on the stage, applying to Aali 
Pasha for explanations from time to time, and now 
and then joining in conversation with his guests. It 
is an intricate opera, and to get at the plot is not very 
easy. To the Sultan it must have been a prodigious 
mystery, and at times the Imperial countenance was 
clouded by uncertainties, and his air was not at all 
free from ennui. His Majesty at last retired, and 
was followed by their Eoyal Highnesses ere the 
opera was over. Mustapha Fazil, who is very 
amusing, and whose laugh makes a table roar, came 
with his brother to the Saleh Bazaar Palace, and had 
pipes — and such pipes as they are ! — with the Prince. 

April 8th. — A quiet morning. The Princess went 
with Mrs. Grey, incognita, wandering through the 
bazaars, under the guidance of Mr. Sandeson, inter- 
preter to the Embassy. The Prince, accompanied 
by Captain Ellis, visited Abdullah's photographic 
studio, and Preziosi's charming little rooms, full of 
knick-knacks and sketches. Then, after luncheon, 
the Eoyal party paid a visit to the Sultan's stables, 



508 THE SULTAN'S STABLES. [chap. 

where the magnificent old charger, twenty-nine years 
of age, with a pedigree of 400 years, which His 
Majesty rides to the mosque, and some 200 horses 
of different races, were exhibited by Eaonf Pasha. 

The stables were not remarkable. The ventilation 
and paving might be improved; but in the saddle- 
room there was a display of embroidered covers, 
shabracques, and trappings set with precious stones, 
some very curious, many very valuable, and a few 
beautiful. There is a magnificent Eussian bear, 
splendidly stuffed, in one of the rooms. It was shot 
by the Czar, and was sent as a present to the Sultan. 
His Majesty would doubtless be glad if all Eussian 
bears were in the same condition. 

The Prince mounted and rode with Mr. Elliot and 
others, notwithstanding the bitter cold wind, to an 
outlying cricket-ground in the suburbs, and saw 
the poor Ariadnes out -bowled and out -batted in 
one innings by the English inhabitants of Constan- 
tinople. 

There was another magnificent banquet this even- 
ing — a state entertainment, at the British Embassy, 
of 42 covers, to which the Eoyal party went in full 
uniform. The Ambassadors of France, of Austria, 
and of Eussia, the Ministers of all the great Powers, 
the Grand Yizier, Lord and Lady Hobart, Sir 



xix] BANQUET AT THE BRITISH EMBASSY. 509 
Adolphus Slade, Omar Pasha, Captain Campbell, Sir 
Francis Blackwood, the principal diplomatists and 
Members of the Embassy were invited ; and the table 
presented a splendid appearance, laid out in the noble 
room, which contains a fine portrait of the Queen. 
There was a reception of the principal personages 
in Constantinople afterwards, at which presentations 
were made to the Prince and Princess. General 
Ignatieff does not seem at all affected by the revela- 
tions respecting Greece and Crete, which have not 
rendered him tres bien vu at the Sublime Porte. 
He is quite young for his post — not more than 40 
years of age, I think — seems confident and clever, and 
has seen an immense deal of the world, having served 
in China, and travelled extensively. He takes great 
interest in the approaching visit to the Crimea. 
There have been messages exchanged between the 
Czar and the Prince, and an aide-de-camp of the 
Governor of Bessarabia has arrived from Odessa to 
wait on the Prince. There are considerable obstacles 
in the way of our own programme, which was to 
land at the Old Port, and take the route followed by 
the Allies to the Alma, and thence to Sebastopol. 

April 9th. — The day was cold and grey. It made 
one shiver to look out of the window and see the 
caiquejees in their silk shirts waiting patiently on 



510 AALI PASHA'S HOUSE. [chap. 

the Bospliorus alongside the Palace stairs. At noon, 
the Prince with his suite went off in the Sultan's 
yacht to the iron-clad Mahmoodieh, Captain Osman 
Bey — Hobart Pasha's flag-ship — and inspected her. 
She was built by the Thames Iron Company in 
1S66, is covered with 5-| inch plates, armed with 
fourteen 50 -pounders and two 300 -pounders, has 
engines of 900 horse power working up to 4,000. 
The crew were exercised at the guns on the main 
deck, and seemed exceedingly smart, strong, and 
quiet. They returned on board the Sultan's 
yacht, under manned yards and a salute from the 
whole of the iron-clad squadron. The Pertif Piali 
proceeded up the Bosphorus to Beybek, and we 
went off in caiques to the charming house of 
the Grand Yizier, Aali Pasha, where a dejeuner, 
which turned out to be an immense dinner of 22 
dishes, was laid out in a beautiful conservatory filled 
with flowers. Mustapha Pazil Pasha, Halim Pasha, 
the Seraskier, Omar Pasha, and a number of ministers 
and great notables were assembled to meet their Royal 
Highnesses. This was a most agreeable reunion. 
Aali Pasha is an admirable host, and did the 
honours of his house perfectly. The Grand Turks 
are more at their ease when the Grand Turk of 
all is not present. Omar Pasha, to whose recollec- 



xix.] THE GRAND VIZIER'S DAUGHTER. 511 

tion the Prince was good enough to recall me at the 
Seraskieriate, was particularly anxious to correct an 
impression that he is not on good terms with the 
Seraskier. The latter is a handsome, heavy-looking, 
short man, about 45 years of age, and is not much 
credited with the possession of ability by the military 
world. How the times have changed since the news, 
" The Seraskier is before Vienna," made Europe 
tremble ! Omar is old, but is still " beau garcon," 
and seems quite content with his post as Commander 
of the Imperial Guard and of the Third Army Corps. 
Some of the Turks, speaking to Mrs. Grey, deplored 
the restrictions which are placed on the admission of 
women into society. " The result is," said one, " we 
have no home. The idea of home and family are 
unknown to us." The Grand Yizier's daughter, son, 
and grandson were introduced. The young lady is 
twelve years of age. It is probably the first instance 
in which a Turkish girl of such high rank has ever 
been presented with uncovered face to infidels. 

It had been intended to make an excursion up 
the Bosphorus, as far as Therapia after luncheon, 
but the sky clouded over, and the drizzling rain 
gradually increased to a continuous fall. At 5 
o'clock the party and suite embarked on board the 
Sultan's yacht, and returned to Saleh Bazaar. Mr. 



512 PACKING UP. [chap. 

and Mrs. Elliot, Sir A. and Lady Buchanan, Spiridon 
and Talib Beys, dined with the Eoyal party. After 
the usual performance of the military band, the 
Sultan's stringed band was introduced, and played in 
the drawing-room after dinner ; and I must say, if he 
prefers their music to that of his Italian master, His 
Majesty's ear has been cultivated in a school of which 
the doctrines and practice are novel to most Europeans. 
Mr. Ketten, a young pianist, also performed, and 
charmed the whole company by his exquisite taste 
and brilliant execution. 

April 10th. — Our last day in Constantinople. 
Farewell pleasures and palaces ! Gold and diamond, 
and amber ! " Packing up " is on us in all its horrors 
once more. And yet it is done with perfect order 
and smoothness. Abdullah attended early, photo- 
graphed the Boyal party, and took some cabinet 
photographs of the Princess, which were very good. 
Achmet, the Arab boy, who has been growing more 
intractable every day, was condemned to a return to 
his native land, and was consigned to Colonel Stanton 
at Cairo, where no doubt he will become an excel- 
lent donkey-boy — being "to the manner born." 
The departure of the Boyal party this afternoon 
was stately and imposing. There was a dejeuner 
given by the Sultan in his Palace of Dolmabakshi, 



xix.] THE DEPARTURE. 513 

at which the Prince and Princess, attended by 
Mrs. Grey, Lieutenant- Colonel Teesdale, and Captain 
Ellis, were present, and to which the British Am- 
bassador and Mrs. Elliot, and Sir A. and Lady 
Buchanan, were invited. The members of the British 
Embassy lunched with the rest of the Eoyal suite at 
the Palace of Saleh Bazaar; and then, dressed in 
black and white ties, we were rowed in caiques to 
Dolmabakshi, where we arrived at 3.30 p.m., and 
were introduced to the State apartments. After a 
short delay, the Sultan appeared with the Prince, 
and stood in the doorway, and his Eoyal Highness 
suggested to Aali Pacha that the suite who stood 
before the great man should be introduced again on 
taking leave, but the Vizier did not seem inclined to 
run the risk. The Sultan led the Princess down the 
grand staircase to the Great Hall, which is one of the 
— if, indeed, it be not the — noblest of rooms in the 
world. It is not possible to describe such a wonder 
of size and colour ; but if you will fancy St. Paul's, 
with the interior of its dome bright with metallic 
lustre, and decorated with the richest arabesques, 
you may come near it. A group, in which the Sultan 
stood prominent, was formed at one side of the vast 
circumference. In two lines, far apart, were eight 
officers of the Body Guard in Arnaout uniforms 



514 FAREWELL. [chap. 

They stood, with heads downcast and arms folded 
across the breast, as if fixed to the earth, their eyes 
turned towards the ground. As the Sultan passed 
towards the great porch, these mutes turned slowly, 
like so many automatons, keeping their heads in 
the direction to which he moved; and when His 
Majesty strode back through the hall, and vanished 
through the pillared entrance, the satellites revolved 
on their heels slowly as he went. It recalled the old- 
world time of Caliphs and' Grand Viziers, when the 
Father of the Faithful was an abstraction to most 
of the world — the days when he looked from his 
bed of State, through a latticed window in the court 
of his Palace, at the Ambassadors of the Giaour 
outside, and ordered the envoys of the greatest mo- 
narchs to be treated like felons. The Sultan accom- 
panied the Prince and Princess to the door which 
leads to the water front of the Palace, and on the 
top of the three steps which descend to the marble 
quay, by the side of which the state caiques were 
lying, he halted, and there took leave of the Prince 
and Princess, who expressed their sense of his hospi- 
tality. Their Eoyal Highnesses then embarked in 
their boats, under salutes from the shipping. On our 
return to the Ariadne, Aali Pasha, Mustapha Fazil 
Pasha, Halim Pasha, Omar Pasha, the Turkish 



xix.] THE BOSPEORUS. 515 

officers attached to the Prince and Princess, and 
others came off to bid farewell. The parting of 
Turk and Christian was very sympathetic. The 
Ariadne, dressed out in her best, got under weigh 
at 5 p.m. and stood close in to the Sultan's Palace, 
her band playing the Turkish National Anthem, 
and the crew gave three thundering cheers. As 
the frigate steamed past the four Turkish iron- 
clads, the Eoyal Standard was saluted by each, 
and the guns thundered like a broadside across 
the Bosphorus and through the quivering air, 
as echo answered echo from the hillsides above : 
guards, with presented arms, turned out on para- 
pets and forts, bands playing, colours flying. At 
Beyukdereh Mr. Elliot took leave, his place being 
taken by Sir Andrew Buchanan. At 10 minutes 
past 8 o'clock, as night was falling, the vessel passed 
into the Black Sea, which, after all the brightness we 
had left behind, seemed worthy of the name. 

The Prince has exercised an influence on rela- 
tions in which there are, or have been, some 
elements of trouble ; but the direct effect of his 
presence in producing good feeling between two 
persons in whose harmonious action Great Britain 
is deeply interested has been less, perhaps, than 
might have been hoped. No allusions have been 

l l 2 



516 ROYAL VISITS. [chap. 

made to Egypt, but it is easy to learn that the great 
man is jealous of his vassal; and those who are best 
acquainted with Eastern politics are of opinion that 
it was a great mistake for the Viceroy to fall into the 
practice of going to Constantinople to pay court to 
His Majesty. The Sultan is at the head, politically 
and religiously, of nearly 40,000,000 people, and the 
prestige of his name extends farther than the broad 
lands in which he dwells. He is at once a great 
European sovereign and an Asiatic potentate. He is 
important by what he has to lose, as well as by what 
he holds. If our traditions, our past policy, and our 
sacrifices be worth anything, it is important to us 
that his empire should be contented, united, and 
civilized, but it would be in the last degree unwise 
to encourage the Porte in its efforts to assume direct 
control over the land of Egypt. The Sultan's visit, 
and the voyage of the Prince to Constantinople, 
which may be regarded as the return made on the 
part of Great Britain, should be estimated as 
political and social incidents with very large bear- 
ings, but it is certain that consequences are likely 
to follow in the East, from the movements of the 
Sultan and of the Viceroy, which were not antici- 
pated from them, and that the question of Egyptian 
dependence, among others, will be seriously raised 



xix.] TURKISH PREJUDICES. 517 

some fine day when it will be least welcome. Some 
say it is not wise for the Sultan to make himself' too 
common. It is too late. The day of his mystic 
sacredness passed when he left his Palace and set foot 
in the land of the Franks. 

The mere appearance of a Sultan at a dinner- 
table at which infidel Franks are seated, is an omen 
of awful import to true believers. We cannot 
understand, but we must not because of our igno- 
rance depreciate, the weight of such prejudices. 
It is said that the very matter of His Majesty's 
taking a Christian Princess on his arm, has offended 
susceptibilities outside his Palace, and has created 
inside some of those gentle emeutes which the 
weaker sex know how to lead to such grand 
results. But if there be a step made towards the 
improvement of the status of the Mahometan 
woman by this agitation, it will be an event to be 
noted in the history of Islam. The old Turks must 
learn the lesson which the age is setting them, or 
die out in their obstinate faith, as many men have 
died before them. 

On the whole I am inclined to think that, to the 
Eoyal party generally, the Egyptian tour was more 
attractive than their stay in Constantinople. 

The bazaars and the scenes in the streets of Cairo 



518 CAIRO AND CONSTANTINOPLE. [chap. 

had so completely orientalized the ladies of the party, 
that Stamboul, seen to some disadvantage in cold or 
dull weather, did not produce as much effect as might 
have been expected. The Princess and Mrs. Grey 
were, it may be surmised, just in the least degree 
disappointed. Cairo, with all its wealth of Eastern 
sights and Mahometan usages, is more civilized than 
Constantinople. There was less state ceremonial there. 
The people are accustomed to the noisy, odd, capri- 
cious stream of tourists and travellers which runs for 
ever backwards and forwards through the alleys of 
their city. There are no ambassadors or great diplo- 
matists to attend to, and life is more free from cere- 
monial. 

Somehow or other, great Egyptian personages do 
not give you the idea that they are Mahometans. 
They seem Christians in disguise. The Government 
is so cosmopolitan, that every sort of man can enter 
its service without a thought of his religion. The 
Viceroy's physician is a clever Frenchman ; so is 
Linant Bey, Minister of Public Works. M. Bravet, 
a gentleman who is in high favour at Court, is of 
the same nation; and there are Poles, Germans, 
Turks, and Armenians in State employment. 
General Maclean, tutor to one of the Viceroy's sons, 
is an officer of the Indian army. The chiefs of 



xix.l BALLS IN ISLAM. 519 

the railway and of the telegraph systems, Betts 
Bey and Mr. George, are Englishmen. The Sublime 
Porte does not permit infidels to cross its threshold, 
and rather disapproves of the liberality of its vassal ; 
and, as a general rule, if Christians enter the Ottoman 
service they must apostatize. 

The Khedive's Court, with quite enough of the 
East to flavour it, was as amusing as society 
can be in which the women of the country are 
not permitted to appear. On occasions, a great 
crowd of ladies can be assembled at Cairo, but they 
are all Christians or Jews ; and, as it so happened, 
the Princess was away when the great ball at the 
Palace was given in honour of the Poyal visit. The 
Sultan could not give a ball ; and that which Mrs. 
Elliot had such good reason to be proud of, at the 
Embassy, was attended chiefly by the wives and 
daughters of the diplomatists and 4 of the chief 
Christian families in Pera. 

The mode of life of the Eoyal visitors was pretty 
much the same in both cities, and in each every- 
thing was done which lay in the power of the hosts 
to make their Poyal guests pass their time agree- 
ably. The cuisine at both was French a little 
Italianized. The Prince generally honoured one 
or two persons with invitations to breakfast, and 



520 THE TWO COURTS. [chap. 

a greater number to the dinner-table; and the 
Egyptian and Turkish officers attached to his 
suite were considered in all respects members of 
it for the time being. A breakfast of many courses 
at 9.30 or 10 o'clock — in Turkey furnished with a 
greater proportion of national dishes ; afterwards 
pipes and coffee — the Sultan's pipes being the 
better of the two, perhaps, as they certainly were the 
more gorgeous and costly. Lunch at 2 o'clock — 
pipes and coffee once more ; and dinner at 7.30 
or 8 o'clock, with pipes and coffee again. At 
Constantinople the Sultan's band was always in 
attendance; and a military band played outside 
the palace at guard-mounting in the morning. 

The Egyptian music is still in a caliphic condition, 
and the less one hears of it the better ; but the Sul- 
tan is really in his own way a musical talent, and 
composes marches and airs, in which there is a melan- 
choly pathos suited to his character, which is said to 
be sad, if not sombre and warlike. The machinery of 
all civilized appliances in these lands is worked by 
Europeans, and the surroundings of Christian princes 
were naturally selected from the least Oriental of the 
persons at Court. There is one feature common to 
both. In Europe, a Prince on his travels, who has 
no orders to bestow when about to leave a Court, 



xix.] BA KSHEESBIA . 521 

must dissolve, as he passes the threshold, into a 
light shower of snuff-boxes set in diamonds — no 
one takes snuff, but any one will take a snuff-box — 
and pins, and rings, to refresh the spirits of splendid 
personages in waiting, in the moment of grief at 
the departure of their master's guests, and to keep 
their memories green. But in the faerie land of 
Baksheeshia, though there are no daughters of the 
horse-leech to be seen, there are plenty of his sons ; 
and though they do not cry " Give ! " they look very 
like it indeed. Noblesse oblige — far more does 
Eoyalty and the custom of the country ; and not 
only jewellery must be presented, but hard cash 
counted out to all around — and they are many. 
And so we bow ourselves out, and proceed towards 
the dominions of the Czar. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE BLACK SEA. THE CRIMEA. — SEBASTOPOL. — THE 

ALMA. THE REDAN. CATHCART's HILL. INKER- 
MAN. THE MALAKHOFF. BALACLAVA. LIVADIA. 

ALUPKA. 

April nth. — Sunday. The Black Sea behaved 
itself very well, and there was almost a calm as 
we were diminishing the distance towards the 
Crimea, with just an easy roll here and there, when 
the wind now and then came in breaths puffing from 
the southward, and ruffling the glassy surface. All 
day the Ariadne kept her course, gliding peacefully 
onward at half- speed, in order not to reach Sebas- 
topol too soon. At noon we were 137 miles, or 
about half way to it. Service read by Mr. Onslow, 
and on the even deck the young gentlemen amused 
themselves afterwards with mimic combats, to the 
amusement of the travellers. There were great 
shoals of porpoises to keep us company at times. 

April 12th. — There was a strong easterly current 
encountered during the night. Early in the morn- 



chap, xx.] THE CRIMEA. 523 

ing the look-out reported "land," and soon there 
came in sight a towering peak, which was made out 
to be Cape Aia, the grand promontory which marks 
unmistakably the approach to Balaclava with its 
awful cliffs. The ship's course was altered to the W. 
She passed Balaclava, and stood at an angle to the 
coast for Cher son. I was roused out early on deck, 
and Teesdale, Ellis, Alison came up. It was a toler- 
ably clear morning. Soon afterwards the Prince, with 
Sir A. Buchanan, joined us, and surveyed the scenery 
of the famous Peninsula with the utmost interest, 
as the frigate steamed along the coast below the 
Monastery of St. George. We drew in view of the 
Lighthouse at Point Chersonese. We went past 
Kamiesh, and Kazatch, once black with masts and 
hulls and alive with men, now blank sea and bleak 
shore, deserted and left to the wild duck and the 
sea-gull — not a trace left of the busy towns to which 
war gave a vigorous commerce that vanished like 
the pall of white smoke that once hung over the 
city beyond. The officers on the bridge had still the 
same old charts to guide them which served our fleet 
in 1854. As the entrance to the roadstead opened 
out there came on the little group on deck a feeling 
too deep for words. The eyes of some eagerly 
sought out through the glass the familiar land- 



524 "THERE IS SEBASTOPOLr [chap. 

marks, and found them; but objects came in sight 
which were new — a statue on the south, a church 
and cemetery on the north side. 

The exclamation, " There is Sebastopol at last ! " 
from one of the party, caused us to start. It broke 
the silence. There it was, indeed ! the dim contour 
of Fort Constantine dancing in the mirage — nearer at 
hand, the plateau, seamed with trenches, crowned by 
the Flagstaff Bastion, the Eedan, the Malakhof, the 
Mamelon, Cathcart's Hill ! 

There was a coarse but accurate engraving of the 
appearance of the entrance in the charts issued 
by the Admiralty during the war ; bub on the 
bluffs, where Fort Nicholas, Fort Alexander, and 
Fort Paul then presented their casemated fronts, 
there is now nothing but heaps of broken stone. 

The effect of Sebastopol on strangers in its present 
state is to surprise them. The town is so much 
smaller than they expected it to be. The Princess 
and Mrs. Grey were, 1 think, somewhat disappointed 
when they came up and saw the famous place 
of which they had heard so much, and I am 
not sure that the Prince did not participate in 
their feeling. It is difficult to understand how the 
genius of an engineer and the bravery of an army 
could have cast a wall so strong around those ruined 



xx.] GENERAL BE KOTZEBUE. 525 

heaps, that the legions and fleets of two great 
Powers and two potent auxiliaries were held at 
bay for eleven long months and more. The Forts 
on the North Side appeared to be just as they 
were when the Allies evacuated the Crimea. As 
we ran past Fort Constantine there were visible 
three men on the parapet, and eight or ten on the 
rock below. There was no flagstaff on the Tort, 
nor, as far as I could make out, any gun in 
the casemates. Nowhere the sign of a Eussian 
flag. The Ariadne came to her moorings, half-way 
between the ruins of Fort Paul and the North 
landing-place, where a buoy had been placed for 
her, about 8.30 a.m. The Psyche was already at 
anchor inside, close to the Eussian Hospital. A 
few " Euskies " could be made out in the groups of 
people who watched us on shore. There they were ! 
— the flat caps, long grey coats, and boots to the 
knee — as we had seen them, mite-like, swarming on 
the long line of their defences day after day ! Soon 
after 9 o'clock there was a bustle at the landing-place, 
two boats laden with officers put off, and presently 
Aide-de-Camp General de Kotzebue, Governor of New 
Eussia and Bessarabia, and Commander of the Forces 
of the Military District of Odessa, came on board and 
had an audience of the Prince. His Excellency was 



5.26 PROGRAMME. [chap. 

ill full uniform, his breast covered with well-won 
honours. He was Chief of the Staff to Prince Grort- 
schakoff while that energetic soldier commanded at 
SebastopoL and remained with the army till the close 
of the war. No one — save, perhaps, Todleben him- 
self, who was in ill-health at St. Petersburg — could 
be a more competent or accomplished guide, cer- 
tainly no one could execute a task of delicacy and 
difficulty with more perfect courtesy and feeling. 
He was accompanied by General Jukovsky, Governor 
of Simferopol, by Admiral of the Port Kislinsky, 
M. Hiterowa, Baron Osten Sacken, A.D.C., and by 
Mr. Stevens, Consul at Odessa. The General had 
a programme for the four days, which, unfortunately, 
was all the Prince could give to the Crimea, and, in 
a little conference below-stairs, it was approved by 
His Eoyal Highness, who gave up his intention of 
landing at Old Fort. It was as follows : — 
l re jour nee (12 Avril). 
Inspection du monument Busse sur le cote du 
Nord (Severnaia) et du champ de bataille de l'Alma. 
Temps necessaire pour cette course — huit heures, en 
passant le trajet par terre. 

2 me journee (13 Avril). 
Premiere course du matin pour demi-heures : — 
Inspection de la ville et d'une partie de la ligne 



xx. ] PROGRAMME. 527 

de defense (Flagstaff-Battery — Bastion du Mat) et 
retour a la fregate. 

Seconde course depuis midi : — 

Depart en barques et d^barqument clans le fond 
de la vallee. De la par terre, en passant devant le 
" Bedaub " et les loqualites occupees par 1'aruiee 
Anglaise, jusqu a la liauteur de Catlicart Hill. Puis, 
en passant devant plusieurs cimetieres et la redoute 
Victoria, jusqu' au champ de bataille d'Inkerman. 
Depuis le monument d'Inkerman, a cheval (sans 
equipages), par les ouvrages Francais et Eusses, 
jusqu'a Malachoff, et embarquement. Temps neces- 
saire, six heures. 

3 me journee (14 Avril). 

Depart de Sevastopol par terre, pas plus tarcl qu' a 
neuf heures du matin. Inspection de 1' emplacement 
du quartier-general de l'armee Anglaise, de plu- 
sieurs cimetieres, de l'ussuaire Francais, de la baie 
de Balaclava et du cliamp de bataille pres de cet 
endroit. Yoyage de Balaclava, par la vallee de 
Baydar, a la cote meridionale. Ai'rivee pour la nuit 
a Livadia. Temps necessaire, dix hemes. 

4 7 " e journee (15 Avril). 

Inspection de Livadia, Orianda et Alupka, et retour 
a Livadia. Temps necessaire, de sept a huit heures. 

After breakfast hour, the General and his staff 



528 THE MEMORIAL CHAPEL. [chap. 

returned in undress uniform from the town, where 
he had gone as soon as the programme had 
been approved of, to make arrangements for the 
excursion to the Alma ; and the Prince and 
Princess, attended by their suite, were rowed to 
the landing-place on the North side, where they 
were received by a crowd of men and women, 
who evinced great curiosity to see the Eoyal 
travellers. The Eussians we saw outside the 
Cemetery and in the suburbs, as well as those in the 
town, in garb, aspect, and dwelling, were poor and 
miserable enough. Captain Skariatine, agent of the 
Eussian Navigation Company, who served in the 
Marines at the Alma, and who is the only survivor 
of twenty officers of a battalion of the corps which, 
for four months, held one of the " White Works/' 
was attached to the party. We first proceeded in 
droshkies. drawn by six horses, to inspect the 
Memorial Chapel. It is situated on the plateau 
of a ridge which rises from the sea with a steep 
ascent, and henceforth it will be a prominent feature 
of the landscape. No better site could be chosen. 
The dead are close at hand, and, if they are ever 
permitted to revisit scenes above, they will look 
across the waters on ground which their devotion 
has hallowed. The Eussians may boast that no 



xx.] THE RUSSIAN CEMETERY. 529 

enemy's foot has trod the soil in which their 
soldiers' bones are resting. Sebastopol, indeed, is 
gone, but if the prestige of an empire was lessened 
by its fall, it can scarcely be doubted that the 
Eussian character was nobly illustrated, and an 
example of courage and patriotism set, by its defence, 
which cannot but produce a lasting effect on the 
national history. A truncated quadrilateral steeple, 
rising from the body of the Chapel, serves as a 
vast cenotaph. Inscribed on each side are the 
names of the regiments which took part in the 
siege, with the losses of each.* An exquisite mosaic 
of Our Saviour is placed over the entrance. The 
inside is not yet finished. It will be decorated with 
rich frescoes, in which Eussian artists are more 
happy than some of their brethren whose works are 
to be seen on the walls of certain public buildings 
in London. 

From the Monumental Chapel we went to the 
Great Cemetery. Trees are planted by paths lined by 
vaults, marked with cenotaphs, containing forty, 
sixty, or eighty bodies : officers are favoured by 
separate tombs, as if rank followed them to the 
grave. The gentle Princess, very probably, as she 
mused in this City of the Dead, and read how such 

* A copy of the inscriptions will be found in the Appendix. 

M M 



530 GOR TSCHAKOFF. [chap. 

an one led such a sortie, and how many fell on 
such a day, felt like cc little Wilhelmine " in 
Southey's ballad, and thought it " was a very wicked 
thing." The Prince, who unfortunately was suffer- 
ing from a severe cold, took deep interest in 
what he saw ; and the Princess was much im- 
pressed by the melancholy character of the scene. 
The bust of Grortsckakotf — a very excellent likeness 
- — placed under a marble canopy, is the prin- 
cipal object. The veteran died at Warsaw, but 
in compliance with his last wishes, his remains 
were carried hither, and repose amid those of 
his faithful soldiery. He, too, looks on the scene 
of his great exploit. Beneath is the roadstead, across 
which — leaving his enemy only piles of ruins on 
which to celebrate their victory — covered by tre- 
mendous explosions, he led his army, lighted by 
a burning city. 

The vehicles provided by the authorities were wait- 
ing outside the Cemetery walls. The Prince and 
Princess, General de Kotzebue, and Sir A. Buchanan 
occupied, one ; and, as the General did not come to 
the Crimea till March, 1855, I was asked to take a 
place on the box to describe the positions as we 
passed. The cortege whirled at a tremendous rate 
over the hill to the right of the North or Star Fort, 



xx.] THE BELBEK. 531 

which is in good order, passing a mountain of 
pressed hay, which the Eussians found after we left 




the Crimea, and transported from Balaclava. An 
escort of Tartars, irregular and unarmed, rode by the 
side of the carriages and kicked up a thick dust. 
We plunged into the valley of the Belbek, passing 
the remains of a paltry earthwork looking over the 
beach, which Mr. Kinglake affirms to have fright- 
ened the whole French army, and determined the 
Allies to undertake the flank march, that was pro- 
posed by Sir John Burgoyne, three days before the 
Allies saw the Belbek at all. The direction of 
the reconnaissance before that measure was pointed 
out to the Prince. It is difficult to believe that the 
bare hillocky ground was once covered with dense 
foliage, in which an army was steered by compass ; 

si m 2 



532 THE TELEGRAPH TOWER. [chap. 

but the demands of the siege for gabions and fuel 
exhausted the brushwood to the very roots. The 
horses flew over the hard ground, up the ascents, 
and came dashing down the declivities at the rate of 
fourteen miles an hour at times. At the village 
of Mamishai, a knot of Tartars received the Koyal 
visitors with loud cheers, and made an offering of 
bread and salt to the Prince and Princess. When 
Lord Eaglan entered Balaclava, the Greeks, borrow- 
ing the custom from their Tartar neighbours, went 
through the same ceremony. The remains of 
General Bibikoff's villa, which was so charming 
when I halted there in our march in 1854, and 
rested for an hour in the shade of the vines, are 
converted into a poor farmhouse. The pretty places 
which lined the banks of the Katcha, between 
Mamishai and Eskel, are gone ; but the vineyards 
have not been quite obliterated. After a drive of 
about an hour and a half from the North side, we 
dipped at last into the track which leads from the 
plateau towards the Alma. I looked in vain for the 
White Telegraph Tower, which formed so remark- 
able a point on the ridge over the river near the 
sea, and on which the French left a record of their 
victory. It has been thrown down. Passing through 
the position (w r here the Minsky and Yolinsky Eegi- 



xx .] THE ALMA. 533 

ments were posted when Pennefather's Brigade were 
struggling up the slope), the cortege went to the 
front of the Eussian line, leaving the 1 8-gun epaule- 
ment on the right, and "Lord Eaglan's Knoll" 
away on the left. Almost on the spot where Lord 
Eaglan's tent was pitched on the evening of the 
victory, the carriages halted, among a gathering of 
Tartars, of Germans and Eussians from the villages. 
The Prince talked for some moments to an old 
German, who was wounded and made prisoner at 
the battle. Horses were waiting for all the party. 
The Prince and his suite mounted. We first gal- 
loped to the epaulement, which was carried by the 
Light Division, retaken and abandoned by the 
enemy on the advance of the Guards and the defeat 
of their left. Every embrasure can still be traced, 
and the traverses counted. The Prince, dismount- 
ing, examined the position with care, and inspected 
the names on the memorial stone in front of the 
battery, which marks where many of the Light 
Division fell. It needs cleaning and restoration 
badly. The Princess and Mrs. Grey came up in 
a pony-carriage, and the visitors went slowly over 
the ground which was held by the Eussian right, 
and carried by our army. The field of battle is un- 
changed. The bridge over the river is much as it 



534 RETURN TO SEBASTOPOL. [chap. 

was then, and in a } r ear there will be vineyards full 
of grapes; but of those who breasted that gently 
murderous slope, who joined in the wild cry of 
victory, and swelled the cheers which rose from the 
ridge as the Guards threw up their bearskins, how 
many have since gone to join their comrades? 
Captain Skariatine pointed out the position of the 
Russian corps, and related how he saw the Allies 
advancing, very slowly, but in magnificent array, 
from their bivouac on the Boulganak ; how his 
Marines, posted in the rear of the epaulement, who 
did not fire a shot, lost nearly fifty men from our 
rifle -bullets. We saw where GortschakofTs tent 
stood before the battle — where Menschikoff's Head- 
quarters were, and where the two generals and rivals 
were stationed from time to time throughout the day. 
Mounting once more, and crossing over the insignifi- 
cant stream of the Alma by the bridge and by the 
ford, we rode rapidly through Bourliouk, where 
the Brigades of the Second Division were divided 
by the flames of the village, which has not recovered 
the ruin of war, halting for a moment that the 
Tartars might present their usual peace-offering. 
The Prince was shown where Lord Raglan crossed 
the rivulet, where Prince Napoleon's division was 
held in check by the gathering masses of the 



xx.] BOURLIOUK. 535 

enemy above, and the crag-like and precipitous 
banks near the sea, where Bosquet, covered by 
the fire of the fleet, passed his corps over the 
ford, and, spoking up his guns, turned the Bus- 
sian left. The party returned to Tarkanlar, near 
Bourliouk, and lunch was prepared in a large and 
comfortable farmhouse, which looked very like that 
in which our field-hospital was established. A loud 
cheer greeted the Prince and Princess, as they drove 
up, from a large crowd of Eussians and Tartars, and 
bread and salt were again offered and accepted. In 
the room in which lunch was served, there was a 
fine engraving representing the "Duke of Osnaburg" 
as a boy, with one of his brothers by his side. We 
had Crimean wines and good fare, and sounds of 
mirth and the music of cheerful voices came from 
the building the walls of which had echoed to such 
awful sounds on that memorable September eve. 
The Eoyal party were regarded with much interest 
by the villagers, who behaved admirably, and cheered 
only when the strangers were getting into their car- 
riages. The way is long, and we returned late to the 
I^orth side, passing through the old lines which the 
Eussians prepared to resist the advance of the Allies, 
after they abandoned the South side, or Sebastopol 
proper. It was a raw evening, and we had a cold, 



536 THE CLIMATE. [chap. 

dusty drive. General de Kotzebue, Admiral Kislin- 
sky, Baron Osten Sacken, M. Hiterowa, General 
Jukofsky, and Mr. Stevens dined on board with the 
Eo} r al party. The Ariadne's band played "God 
preserve the Emperor," the Eussian national hymn, 
on the arrival of the General, and at dinner the 
Prince proposed " His Majesty's health," to which 
the General replied, giving that of the Queen in 
return. The conversation principally turned on the 
war, which the Russians treated as a matter of 
history, quite removed from passion or feeling of any 
kind. 

April 13th. — It rained during the night. The 
Prince had an opportunity of seeing the extraordi- 
nary change which a few hours' wet can produce 
in the soil of the Crimea ; for when General Kot- 
zebue came on board at 9.30 a.m., he declared it 
would not be possible to drive or ride, as the horses 
could not keep their feet. There was a short delay 
in landing in consequence, but the weather cleared 
towards 11 o'clock, the strong wind soon dried 
the ground, and the Prince, Princess, and suite 
embarked in the barge and gig and landed at the 
" Count's Stairs." The people assembled at the 
landing-place burst into a loud cheer as they 
stepped on shore. They bear no malice to England, 



xx.] RUINS. 537 

it would seem, and the Russians can cheer well. 
Their Royal Highnesses were received by the 
General (who presented Madame and Mademoiselle 
de Kotzebue), surrounded by his staff, and by the 
officers of the regiment quartered in the town. 
Here bread and salt were offered and accepted as 
before ; and the band played " God save the Queen." 
Followed by a close-pressing throng, the party 
passed under the White Portico, so familiar during 
the siege, where a guard of honour was drawn up. 
The Prince inspected a fine company of the regiment 
in garrison, and received the report of the day, as 
is the custom in continental armies on similar occa- 
sions. Horses, an escort of Tartars under Mufti 
Zadi, and pony- carriages were provided for all the 
suite and the Russian officers attached to the party. 
About 10.30 we started along the street marked in 
the maps, which is a continuation of the Woronzow 
road, and runs above Dockyard Creek, as we erro- 
neously called the Harbour. The Club House, the 
Church, the Theatre, the Library, are in ruins. 
The mass of streets and houses which lay between 
Artillery Bay and the Flagstaff Battery are totter- 
ing walls blackened with smoke. One Church has 
been restored ; the cupola has been renovated — 
there is a new bell put therein. A few houses 



53 S THE REDAN. [chap. 

have been patched up here and there in the 
main street; two inns offer wine and food and 
beds to the traveller ; the remainder is a Tadmor or 
Palmyra. It was hard to believe that the shapeless 
heaps once constituted the Queen of the Euxine — a 
city of 50,000 souls ; they are now reduced to some 
5,000, most of them apparently in penury. Of 
the former inhabitants there are not many left 
— few or none, indeed, except the obstinate old 
" salts," who cling to the port as they would to 
a sinking ship in battle — such as would be found 
wandering about the Hard, if Portsea were no more. 
The Government gave the people a certain sum to 
rebuild their houses ; but the majority preferred to 
spend it elsewhere. Heaps of guns and shot and shell 
still lie by the water's edge of the Creek. We 
wound under the Garden Batteries, the Crow's Nest 
Battery, and Flagstaff Bastion, and crossing by the 
Creek Battery, got on the Woronzow road, crossed 
it, ascended the steep side of the Karabelnaia suburb 
behind the Barrack Battery, and so got in rear of 
the Eedan, entered it at the gorge, passing out to 
the front by a track on its proper left face. The 
side of the ravine was once a mass of houses ; 
there remain now only lines of stone walls, like 
those in a Scottish or Irish clearing. The Eedan 



xx.] THE RIGHT ATTACK. 539 

can be traced very clearly, but no idea can be formed 
of tbe depth of the ditch, the thicknesses of the 
traverses of the fortress of gabionnade from its 
present aspect. The Prince rode outside to the 
salient, and there dismounted and surveyed the scene 
of the two assaults and of such desperate combats. 
The head of our last sap was shown to him, and 
the trench from which our poor fellows had to run 
the gauntlet for 300 yards — the place where they got 
in — the ground which they held so long unsupported. 
Little children came up to offer bullets and shell 
splinters for sale, and diligent research rewarded 
private explorers, among whom the Prince was 
most sedulous, by old musket-locks and similar 
relics ; but the marvel is, how all the iron and 
lead mines which were so abundantly furnished here 
could have been so soon exhausted. Prom the 
Redan we went to the Fifth Parallel, and so passed 
into the Quarries, from which the Prince could see 
how our fire on the enemy's reserves helped the 
French in holding the Malakhoff, and follow the 
course of the zig-zags and parallels of our Left 
Attack ; and then, passing by " Egerton's Pit," we 
rode by the old mortar batteries, descended into the 
ravine, crossed the Woronzow road, mounted to 
the other side, and cantered briskly over the rising 



540 CAT EC ARTS HILL. [chap. 

ground up to the Cemetery on Cath cart's Hill. 
The gate of the Cemetery was closed, but the Prin- 
cess ascended the steps and entered the enclosure, 
and there, in company with her husband, she walked 
slowly through the noiseless streets, reading the 
names inscribed on the stones, and stopping now 
and then to pick a flower or a weed from the side 
of the grave of one whose friends she knew. 
Here was Seymour, there Neville ; here Strangways, 
there Newman, or some other of the long array of 
those who fell before the Redan or at Inkerman. 
There were few of the party who had not a friend 
or relative lying there. The Prince often called the 
Princess's attention to some name known far away, 
and with his wonderful memory could tell how such a 
one was related at home. He surveyed a sorry sight. 

The fine slab and tablet over poor Newman has 
been chipped and broken at the base. The star on the 
Coldstream Monument has been smashed ; stones are 
chipped and split ; weeds and rank grass grow up 
all over the stones. There is a good wall round 
Cathcart's Hill, but it was put up in the time 
of the occupation ; those round the others are 
of rude masonry, and £13,000 was paid by Govern- 
ment for the job. If steps be not taken to 
preserve this Cemetery from decay and from wanton 



xx] OUR CAMPS. 541 

dilapidation, it will, in common with every monu- 
ment and memorial in the Crimea, become a national 
disgrace — a sort of moral Redan. What a scandal 
this is we could appreciate after our visit to the 
Eussian Cemetery. But it was not until we had 
seen the French that we quite understood its enor- 
mity. The Russians are as anxious as we ought 
to be on the subject. The Czar has purchased the 
fee - simple of the land occupied by numberless 
graveyards, and the Russian Government can scarcely 
be called on to take care of the graveyards them- 
selves. The economical plan would be to collect the 
remains which now lie broadcast, preserving the 
identity as far as possible, all memorial stones, and 
place them in some eligible spot. None is more 
suitable than Cathcart's Hill. 

Nearly an hour was spent inside the enclosure 
before the anxiety of the Russian officers led the 
way to the horses again. 

Leaving the burial-place, we crossed by the low 
ground, close to my old quarters, towards the Head- 
quarters of the Second Division, over the Woronzow 
road, past the Head- quarters of the Light Division, 
and went on to the Right Siege Train Depot. The 
Prince was anxious to see the camp of the Guards, 
but there was no time to do more than point out the 



54.2 THE WIXDJIILZ. [[chap. 

position it had occupied. And, indeed, all that now 
remain of our camps generally are the lines of the 
paved drainage ways, stones which show the site of 
huts, broken bottles, and old camp tins. Fragments 
of broken glass give evidences of Christian and civi- 
lized occupation which promise to be immortal. It 
was easy to mark the site of the Light Division and 
of the Second Division camps, but it is not possible 
to indicate the position of individual huts. One of 
the party, who galloped over to the Cemeteries of the 
Royal Artillery and of the Second Division, over the 
Woronzow road, found them in a dilapidated condi- 
tion. There was no time to visit the camp of the 
Third Division or of the Naval Brigade. Flocks of 
sheep and herds of cattle dot the brownish-green 
waste which was once the home of 150,000 men in 
arms, and through the air so convulsed with the roar 
of guns and the rattle of musketry, there now reach 
the ear the lowing of the kine, and the song of the 
crested lark. "The pomp and circumstance of 
glorious war" has vanished. "The earth has 
bubbles as the water hath, and these are of them." 

In a small room in a farmhouse, close to the 
famous Windmill which was on the day of Inkerman 
almost a centre of battle, as it certainly was on 
November 14, 1856, of a tremendous conflagration, 



xx.] INKERMAN. 543 

there was lunch spread. The woman in possession of 
the house — a dilapidated place, very probahly the old 
Engineer Park Head-quarters — seemed to be a 
squatter. There were our old boardings incorporated 
in the mansion, and iron scabbards, shot, bayonets, 
leather scabbards, pieces of shell, and camp rubbish, 
stowed away in the courtyard. 

When the repast was over the Prince and some 
of the gentlemen galloped to the Inkerman riclge, 
and the Princess and Mrs. Grey, and others, drove 
over the plateau to it in carriages. It was not possible 
for the pony-carriage to get over all the rough 
ground, but the ladies could see the scene of the 
action very well. We looked down from the 
edge on the Tchernaya, the Traktir bridge, the 
scene of the Light Cavalry charge, and General Kot- 
zebue explained to the Prince the general scope of 
the Eussian attack on the French and Sardinians 
down below on the 16th of August, 1855, which 
ended so disastrously for them. Skirting Inkerman, 
as we improperly styled it — the real name being 
the Sapoune Heights, the former name being that 
of the ridges and ruins on the opposite side of the 
valley of the Tchernaya — we came to the Schlacht- 
Peld. The Inkerman Monument, like most of our 
memorials, will not last long unless we look after 



544 THE " SCHLACHT-FELD." [chap. 

it. The ground is fast resuming its original 
aspect ; and brushwood is growing on the side of the 
hills with astonishing rapidity. The Prince rode 
slowly along the ridge, examined the fatal glen 
into which General Cathcart, with desperate strategy, 
led his men, and fell with Seymour by his side — 
the hillocks, where for a time some of our guns 
were taken by a surging rush — and passed by the 
head of the Careening Creek ravine, in which 
So'imonofT made his saving blunder. Turning to 
his left instead of his right, the Russian General 
debouched in rear and flank of Pavloff's Division, 
instead of deploying on the ridge between the 
middle ravine and Careening Creek. The object 
of the Russians on that day was simply to occupy 
the Sapoune Heights, and, aided by an attack from 
Balaclava Yalley, which Liprandi never made, estab- 
lish themselves there, and besiege the Allies on 
the plateau. When the Allies evacuated the plateau, 
the Russians found several small vrorks cast up by 
the Trench after the 5th of November, 1854, to 
strengthen their right flank, and assumed that these 
works existed before the battle. It was a striking 
illustration of the difficulty of getting at facts, to 
find that the Russians supposed the first redoubt we 
came to was the Sandbag Battery, and the scene of 



xx.] OCTOBER THE TWENTY-SIXTH. 545 

the combat of the Guards with PavlofFs men. So 
stiff was Captain Skariatine on the point, that he 
almost made us think our memory had failed in the 
lapse of years. 

The scene of "Little Inkerman " of October 26th, 
1854, where De Lacy Evans so " handsomely " 
repulsed a fierce attack of the enemy with his 
own Division alone — an attack which was the pre- 
cursor of the coming heavy blow foreseen by the 
veteran, and of which he so vehemently represented 
the danger, was skirted on our left. The success 
of Liprandi the previous day in capturing our guns 
from the Turks roused the garrison to great en- 
thusiasm, and the sortie was made with much confi- 
dence. The guns taken by the Eussians on the 25th 
of October out of the redoubts, by the bye, are lying 
in a row beside the wall of the Memorial Chapel, on 
the north side ; they are certainly much more fit- 
tingly placed there than the guns which have been 
stuck up in so many places at home, as if they had 
been taken in the field. We rode to the extreme right 
of the French attack, and passed into the Volinsky 
Selinghinsky and Zabalkansky Eecloubts (the White 
Works), the policy of making which General de 
Kotzebue seemed to doubt, though such a forward 
movement" probably produced a moral effect on both 

N N 



546 THE MALAKEOFF. [chap. 

sides. Thence we went down Careening Creek, and 
General Kotzebue pointed out the spot where 
Soimonoff turned aside; the ground over which 
Todleben in person directed the retreat of the 
Eussian guns, which, horses and men destroyed by 
Dickson's two heavy guns, had been almost aban- 
doned ; and where the great engineer took a regiment 
of infantry, which was retreating, and employed it to 
carry off the artillery. Passing the Aqueduct, which 
is still broken, we climbed to the flank of the Little 
Eedan, near No. 1 Ba,stion, and skirting the ditches 
in which 4,000 Trench soldiers lost their lives, we 
entered the MalakhofF itself. Here we found the 
Princess and Mrs. Grey, and those of the party who 
had not mounted the Tartar horses provided for 
them. The base and stone galleries of the famous 
" White Tower " have been cleared out and swept 
clean. The Malakhoff is evidently the " show place 
of Sebastopol." The visitors passed through the loop- 
holed corridor at the base, examined the magazine, 
were shown the place where Korniloff received his 
death wound, mounted to the summit of the Tower, 
whence they could see how the French had delved 
and mined, and fought up the slope from the Mame- 
lon, foot by foot, till they had got within a few yards 
of the edge of the ditch. One of the Eussian officers 



xx.] THE DOCKYARD. 547 

asked me if I had seen the French picture, " La 
Prise du Malakhoff." " It is absurd to suppose it 
represents what occurred." He added, " There were 
25 or 30 of our men shut up in one of the case- 
mates of the tower, who kept firing out of the loop- 
holes long after the French got in, and who did not 
surrender till late in the day." It was, indeed, not 
till late in the day, when the reserves of the Eussians 
from the Karabelnaia came up, that the French 
were called on to fight in earnest for the Malakhoff. 
General Kotzebue pointed out how they were aided, 
by the Malakhoff having a closed instead of an open 
gorge. The Eedan, and all the other defensive works, 
had open gorges. Inside the Malakhoff, in an enclo- 
sure, there is a marble monument, " to the memory 
of those who fell," including French and Eussians, 
and a house for the guardian. Numbers of poor 
children came to us with bullets and pieces of shell to 
sell. The Malakhoff, as it now appears, gives little 
notion of the tremendous earthworks, or of the great 
mound from which smoke, fire, and projectiles had 
been vomited, volcano-like, over the plain from month 
to month — little except its natural command to show 
that it was — as Sir J ohn Burgoyne said it was, from 
the first day of the siege — " the key of the position," 
which we had at one time in our breeches-pocket, 

N N 2 



548 LAZAREFF'S MONUMENT. [chap. 

and would not take out. There was no time to 
visit the Kamschatka Eedoubt (Mamelon), or the 
Valley of the Shadow of Death. The day was waning, 
and we passed down to the Dockyard wall, which 
stands as the Allies left it — a riddled screen of white 
stone. Dockyards and Barracks and Hospital all 
ruin ! ruin ! ruin ! As we looked at the gulfs, which 
are all that remain of the Great Docks, the old 
General's feelings for once gave way, and he could 
not help saying, that the destruction of the 
docks was " an act which could not be qualified 
otherwise than as one of barbarism." The forges 
and workshops of the Eussian Steam Navigation 
Company were at work, and gave some life to the 
place, over which otherwise " the abomination of 
desolation " might have been written. The Psyche 
in the harbour, the Imperial yacht Tiger near at 
hand, and a small steamer and two sailing ships 
alongside the quay, represented the fleet and com- 
merce of the port of Sebastopol. We rode to the 
front of the Marine Barrack to the colossal statue 
of Lazareff. That rough, vigorous, and sagacious- 
looking head and powerful form, which the designer 
has rendered so well in bronze, placed on a granite 
pedestal, forms a prominent feature in the landscape. 
It represents the man who is venerated by Eussian 



xx.] THE KARAITE PATRIARCH. 549 

sailors as the father of the Black Sea fleet. Lazareff 
died before the war, and those who knew him say he 
never would have survived the catastrophe of his 
fleet. He stands looking on the deserted roads, 
beneath the waters of which lie rotting away the 
results of his energetic conception. Admirals and 
ships alike are gone — KornilofF, Istomine, Nachimoff. 
Turkey may breathe freely through the open Bos- 
phorus, which was once but a waterway to her very 
heart. "Will the traditions of LazarefTs time and 
policy ever be revived ? Who can tell ? Russia has, 
at all events, accepted the situation for the present, 
and has adhered to her treaty stipulations. 

The party returned at a gallop by the Creek 
Battery to the landing-place, where a crowd of 
Eussians welcomed them. General, Madame, and 
Mdlle. de Kotzebue, Baron Osten Sacken, Captain 
Skariatine, several Russian officers, and Mr. Stevens 
were invited to dinner. Toasts were proposed to the 
health of the Emperor, and of the Prince and Princess. 

April 14th. — After breakfast all the party landed at 
the Count's Stairs, where they were received with the 
usual honours. A very venerable old man, in a pictu- 
resque dress — the Patriarch of the Karaite Jews, 
whose quaint dwelling in the defile of Tchufut Kaleh 
I visited many years ago — presented the Prince with 



550 DEPARTURE FROM SEBASTOPOL. [chap. 

an address ; and I sincerely hope lie was rewarded 
for his long journey. As soon as the Prince and 
Princess left the harbour the Ariadne and Psyche 
proceeded to Yalta, to land the luggage at the Palace 
of Livadia. We got into open carriages, and were 
driven rapidly out of the town by the Creek Eoacl. 
The sun was bright, but there was a fierce wind 
blowing, which did the Prince's cold no good. ~No 
time could be spared to visit the Flagstaff Battery, 
the Central Bastion, or the Quarantine Bastion, and 
the French trenches, galleries, and batteries which 
stretch to the sea, on the right. Still, the Prince 
could see and judge of the nature of the attacking 
and defensive works at this side, and the mounds of 
the mortar batteries, and the parallels and trenches 
can yet be traced very clearly. On this part of the 
plateau the owners are beginning to cultivate the 
fields again. We passed Upton's house — went by 
the " Maison Brulee " on the left, and the porch 
where General Pelissier might be seen of a morning 
in his kepi, shirt sleeves, and bountiful red panta- 
loons, giving orders to his Staff, on our right, and the 
old " Clochetour," and drove direct to the French 
Cemetery. There is a neat house at the gateway 
for the superintendent, but he was absent, and 
the official who represented him spoke only Eussian. 



xx. J BRITISH HEAD-QUARTERS. 551 

A square of about one hundred yards is surrounded 
by a high wall, and lined on three sides by 
sixteen large stone buildings. In the centre is a 
mausoleum devoted to officers of high rank — Etat 
Major, Divisional and Brigade -Generals. On the out- 
side are the names. Each of the mortuary houses 
has a narrow entrance or doorway by which you 
reach an inner chamber, where the coffins are placed 
in rows in recesses of masonry, with the names of 
the officers cut on stone slabs at the end, the 
nameless ones and the rank and file below. It is 
all very orderly, and very neat looking, but somehow 
it is not very impressive. It gives the impression 
that the poor fellows were killed and buried 
according to order, and the uniformity is like that 
of herrings in a barrel. But it is decent. From 
the Cemetery we went across country, cutting the 
head of the ravine which separated the two camps, to 
the British Head- quarters. The out-houses, offices, 
and stables which afforded such welcome shelter to 
the Head-quarters staff and their dependents, remain 
exactly in situ, but traces of their occupants have 
nearly vanished. The house has been done up 
and renovated. Perhaps there is no spot on the 
plateau so familiar to English readers — or rather, 



552 "LORD RAGLAN'S HEAD-QUARTERS." [chap. 

there was none when news and sketches from the 
Crimea constituted the staple food of the nation. 
On that hnmble abode the hopes and fears of the 
empire were at one time concentrated. Although 
General Simpson and Sir W. Codrington lived in 
it whilst they commanded the British Army in 
the Crimea, their names are not associated with 
the place. It always bears the name of " Lord 
Raglan's Head- quarters." To me the spot was 
full of interest, and the sight of it recalled the 
long dark nights when, candleless, I sat in my tent 
looking at the bright lights in the windows, and 
listening to the rolling of musketry which came up 
the ravine, and sounded close at hand; the weary 
journeys through the mud to Balaclava and back ; 
the trials I endured each mail- day when my letters 
came out ; and the great storm which blew tent and 
all it contained to parts unknown, and forced me to 
seek shelter in a dreadful den in Balaclava, which 
was subsequently demanded from me " for Her 
Majesty's service." 

The Prince of Wales approached the place, it need 
not be said, with different feelings, but with interest 
of very intense depth ; for although he was a boy 
when the contest was waging, he is familiar with the 



xx.] THE HOUSE. 553 

events of the war, and he can recollect perfectly the 
emotions which were excited in those nearest and 
dearest to him by the varying fortunes of the time. 

The cortege galloped into the court-yard, and 
halted at the porch. At the door stood a Eussian 
officer in uniform, whose name, I think, is Bracher ; 
he led the way to the rooms inside, and presented 
his wife to the Prince and Princess. Nothing could 
be more admirable than the cleanliness, neatness, 
and good taste of the interior. Flowers and shrubs 
perfumed the apartments, and two cypress trees 
were placed, growing in tubs, by the slab on the 
wall of one of the rooms which marks where 
" Lord Eaglan died." The Prince was shown where 
Lord Eaglan' s personal staff — Steele, Burghersh, 
Somerset, Calthorpe " hung out ; " where Estcourt 
and De Morel, Eomaine, Pakenham, Chetwode, Smith, 
Cookesley, and others, had their quarters ; the Post 
Office, Dacre's and Campbell's huts. It is likely the 
present proprietor may have to sell his little estate ; 
if so, there is a good opportunity for the Govern- 
ment to purchase and make it the principal Ceme- 
tery. After a deeply interesting inspection, the 
Prince and Princess and suite took leave of the 
proprietor and his wife, mounted their carriages, 
and drove over to the Monastery of St. George, 



554 MOTHER SEACOLE'S." [chap. 

where holy men prayed without molestation for 
the success of the Czar through all the thunders 
of the siege — a bleak and cold journey of some 
three miles and more. There are only four 
priests now left ; they received us at the gate 
— portly, well-to-do, elderly men, whose black 
caftans were decorated with military crosses and 
medals for services to the Church Militant of Russia, 
in the Crimea, and the Caucasus. The situa- 
tion of this lovely retreat is one of the finest in 
the world. The view from the parapet walls which 
bound the precipitous cliffs over the sea, is very grand, 
and as the party reached it there was the Ariadne 
below in full sail steering for Yalta, looking like 
a yacht. The travellers visited the chapel, returned 
to the carriages, and drove to the Col de Balaclava, 
passing near the site of " Mother Seacole's," and so 
getting into Doynes' Road, which is still in perfect 
order. The stone which was put up to commemorate 
the making of the road has been destroyed. The 
railway track by the roadside can still be followed. 
But little remains of the great lines, or of the trenches 
held by the Turks till they were buried or withdrawn 
to Eupatoria. From the ridge where the road rises 
above the old mud- way to the front, the Prince 
could discern the scene of the Heavy Cavalry charge, 



xx.] BALACLAVA. 555 

and, farther on, the place on the plateau where 
Lord Raglan, General Canrobert, and the Staff 
were stationed during the actions of the 25th of 
October. Kadikoi is peopled once more ; the Church 
is restored, but the pretty villas, orchards, and vine- 
yards are gone. When Balaclava came in sight, an 
involuntary exclamation broke from those who re- 
membered it so full of great ships that a man could 
pass across it from deck to deck. The Psyche lay 
there in simple possession. Not even a fishing-boat 
else. All the men, women, and children in the place 
gathered at the landing-pier, which is all that is left 
of the splendid jetties we made. The planking has 
been torn up, and the piles on which they rested 
stick up snag-like along the beach, having bid de- 
fiance to the means of the destroyers. The popula- 
tion is reduced compared to what it was when 
Lord Raglan entered it ; many of the Greeks whom 
he sent away never returned. We went on board 
the Psyche, which stood out to sea past Castle Bay 
and Cossack Bay and Point Powell, to enable the 
party to see the fatal rocks on which so many vessels 
were wrecked in the disastrous gale of the 14th of 
November, 1854, when the " Prince " was cast away. 
The Psyche returned after a short run, just enough 
to permit the Prince and Princess to judge of the 



556 THE LIGHT CAVALRY CHARGE. [chap. 

nature of the entrance to the harbour and of the 
coast scenery, and the travellers, landing at the pier, 
visited the house of a Greek, which was, as well 
as I remember, our old Stationery Office, where the}' 
partook of Crimean wine and cake, and where Major 
Stamati, of the Greek Battalion which defended the 
place, who had hastened over from Karanyi, was 
introduced to the Prince. It was now getting 
late in the day, and there was still a drive of more 
than twenty-five miles before us. The Eussian 
officers were anxious, so we left Balaclava, and passiug 
out on the plain not far from the knoll where Sir 
Colin Campbell drew up the 93rd Highlanders, drove 
rapidly towards Canrobert's Hill, below which Tartar 
horses were waiting for the gentlemen. A Greek, 
with two crosses of St. George, and other orders on 
his breast, a fine-looking soldier, who had served as 
orderly to Liprandi the day of the action, led us to 
the scene of the Light Cavalry charge. The Prince 
reined up his horse on the very ground occupied by 
the Eussian guns. General Kotzebue and the Greek 
officer- gave their accounts of that brilliant feat of 
arms, in the main features of which we all agreed, 
and the Prince put many questions respecting the 
charge. The Greek declared that some of our horse- 
men went as far as the aqueduct over the Tchernaya, 



xx.] M. PLUMET. 557 

where they were shot clown or taken. We returned 
at a gallop to the carriages, after a halt of half an 
hour on the ground, and had a delightful hut 
cold drive to the valley. At Baidar, whilst we 
were changing horses, there appeared a strange 
face in the little crowd of Tartars which sur- 
rounded the carriages. It belonged to a dapper, 
shrewd, active old fellow, who held a huge jug 
of milk in his hands to refresh the Royal travellers. 
Nor were we long before we knew that it was 
the face of M. Plumet, Frenchman, resident in Eussia 
forty years, married three times, whose nephew is an 
officer in the Artillery of the Guard, and who gabbled 
cheerfully about his wives and his nephew till the 
carriages were off again. Then by the zigzag road 
we climbed to the Gateway and Arch at the top of 
the Phoros Pass, where on one side you look down 
on the sea, and on the other on the valley. The 
carriages halted before the Gateway. Here a sur- 
prise awaited us. On a small plateau over the sea, 
at the other side of the arch, an awning was placed, 
under trellis-work, and at tables beneath were spread 
a zakouska and a lunch. Where the cookery and 
services of plate, and servants in livery came from 
who can tell? Madame de Kotzebue and her 
daughter, who had come all the way from Sebastopol 



558 THE PHOROS PASS. [chap. 

to meet the Prince and Princess, and do the honours 
of the feast, made their adieux, and after a gracious 
expression of thanks, set out on their return at 
4 o'clock, and soon afterwards resuming their seats, 
the party continued their journey towards Yalta. 

The drive from Sebastopol or Balaclava, through 
the Valley of Baidar, by the Phoros Pass, to 
the south ooast, can scarcely be equalled. We 
w^ere a little too soon, indeed, for the foliage in the 
valley was not out in all its glory ; but on the south 
coast the vines were beginning to put forth their 
green shoots, and flowers bloomed in all the lovely 
gardens of the villas, though the tops of the moun- 
tain ridges above them were covered with snow. The 
peculiarity of the scenery lies in the contrast between 
the savage mountain and cliff and the most soft and 
tender paysage, running in folding curves downwards 
to the sea. Prom the Phoros Pass to Alushta the 
road keeps near the foot of an indented chain of 
beetling cliffs and rocks of the most fantastic form, 
and of great variety of colour ; and on the other 
side there is a tumbling slope of verdure — vine- 
yards, fields, forest, wooded glens, ravines, and with 
gigantic rocks and boulders, amid which now and 
then there is some princely castle, with gardens, 
towers, and battlemented walls, like Alupka ; or some 



xx.] L1VAD1A. 559 

Imperial palace, like Livadia; or some charming 
country seat, like Orianda. Prom the sea below, 
the view is almost equally lovely. The scenery 
along the road to Livadia presents some of the most 
exquisite combinations of rock, wood, and water in 
the world. 

To-night, as the peaks and walls of rock which 
tower above the road were warmed by the sun 
into marvellous colours, it was confessed by the most 
travelled that the views could not be surpassed. At 
9.30 p.m. the cortege reached the Imperial Palace 
of Livadia, where the Master of the Ceremonies of 
the Imperial Court, Count Jules Stenbock, was wait- 
ing to receive the Prince and Princess. The lights 
in the windows were visible for miles, as we descended 
the road in easy sweeps and zigzags towards the 
shore ; but few were prepared for chamberlains in 
green and gold Court dresses, the keys of office, silk 
stockings and buckles ; for a mass of servants from 
St. Petersburg, and for a very ceremonious yet 
cheerful reception. The Ariadne and Psyche were 
at anchor off Yalta down below, and our luggage was 
already landed and carried off to the rooms told off 
for each of the Eoyal suite, under the superinten- 
dence of Mr. Kanne ; but we were some time getting 
into order, and it was late when dinner was served. 



560 THE PALACE. [chap. 

General Kotzebue, General Jukofsky, M. Hiterowa, 
Mr. Stevens, Sir A. Buchanan, and the rest of the 
suite, were lodged in dependencies of the Palace, 
which can boast of very great comfort and luxury in 
addition to the natural beauties of situation. 

To pass from the bleak plateau of Sebastopol, its 
graves, and its sad if glorious memories, to the 
refined elegance of Livadia, and find high officers 
of Court in grande tenue, waiting for us, Imperial 
liveries, brilliant rooms, and a banquet set out with 
rich plate, fruit, and flowers, was startling. The 
saloon in which we dined was tinted a greyish white, 
and was rather cold in effect ; but the apartments of 
the Imperial family, which were as when last occu- 
pied, are furnished with simple elegance. The china 
and glass are marked \7]/3aSta. Among the pictures 
on the walls one possessed peculiar interest. It repre- 
sented the Czar and Prince Gortschakoff in the Pass 
of Mangup Kaleh, which was defended principally 
by Greek volunteers, after the evacuation of the 
South side, reviewing the troops at the time when 
the Allies were inactive on the plateau. In the 
centre of the picture, General Kotzebue, the Chief 
of the Staff, is riding behind the Emperor and 
the General, with an escort of Cossacks, and behind 
them are the white-kirtlecl Greeks in open column, 



xx.] MORNING CALLS. 561 

the sides being filled up by the awful crags of the 
pass. To most of us it was news that the Czar 
had visited the seat of war in the autumn of 1855, 
and had reconnoitred in person the position held by 
the Highlanders, Sardinians, and Trench in the front 
of Balaclava. 

April 15th. — What do you suppose happened at 
7 o'clock this morning ? Why, Count Stenbock — a 
most agreeable personage — and General Kotzebue, 
from whom we parted on the best of terms last 
night, came round, and although they were living 
under the same roof, and we would meet them at 
breakfast, left cards on us in our bedrooms. And 
we all had to go round and leave cards on, or pay 
visits to, Count Stenbock and General Kotzebue, and 
other Russians in the Palace. This is high etiquette 
indeed ! 

The morning was exceedingly beautiful ; but to- 
wards 10 o'clock the sky became overcast and obscure, 
and the wind turned very cold. Still, glints of sun- 
shine came through the clouds, which in the after- 
noon were floated off altogether by a strong breeze. 
Every one was delighted with the scenery, and 
with the comfort of the Palace. The grounds are 
charming. Terraced gardens and paths through the 
native woodlands lead you to the sea, and the most 

o o 



562 IMPERIAL CHALETS. [chap. 

brilliant flower-beds are in full bloom, although the 
crests of the crags above are whitened with snow, 
Thrushes and blackbirds fill the brakes with their 
song, but Eeaumur, out of the sun, marks 6° 10'. 

The Princess could not but feel pleased with 
the Eussian Imperial villa, aDd was in excellent 
health and spirits, and the Prince had nearly got 
rid of his cold. Breakfast was not so formal as 
dinner. Count Stenbock was out of uniform, and 
high ceremony was discarded somewhat for the day. 
There was tea fit for — well, the Czarina — and trout 
from the stream which flows from Tchatir Dagh. 

After breakfast their Royal Highnesses visited 
the various detached chalets around the central 
Palace, which belong to members of the Imperial 
family. There was a beautiful little chapel, which 
was, I think, as I remember it on my visit 
thirteen years ago, arranged for Eoman Catholic 
worship, and was built by Count Potoksi. It is 
now adapted for the Greek rite. The gentlemen 
were admitted inside the altar railing, but the Prin- 
cess was not allowed to pass the barrier. It was 
gently intimated to her that the Eastern Church — 
somewhat Mahometanized by its proximity to Mus- 
sulman states, perhaps — had an inflexible rule that 
women were not to set foot inside. On that point no 



xx.] OMAN DA. 503 

concession could be made to any rank, and Her Royal 
Highness was compelled to submit to the genius loci. 
Among other things to be seen was an ex voto of 
the ladies of Simpheropol, on the escape of the Czar 
from assassination during his visit to Paris. Subse- 
quently the Eoyal party, in light basket-carriages, 
attended by Tartar outriders, visited the Palace of 
Orianda, a few miles west of Livadia, which belongs 
to the Grand Duke Constantine. It was built by 
the late Empress, and given to her sons, and it was 
won by the eldest in a throw of dice ; but the Grand 
Duke does not live there. There are charming rooms, 
gardens, and views. The Swiss intendant received 
the Prince and Princess, who were led through the 
rooms by Count Stenbock. They inspected with 
interest the registry of visitors, in which were the 
names of many officers who came here after the peace 
in 1856. Prom Orianda the party proceeded to 
Alupka, the Palace of Prince Woronzow. It is not 
possible to give an idea of the charm of these 
peaceful nooks, where Heaven has provided for the 
Russian great absolute repose and far niente. The 
Woronzow family have cast their shield over a sec- 
tion of these once powerful and now helpless people, 
the Krim Tartars. Inside the walls of their grand 
domain there is a Tartar village, with its new deco- 

o o 2 



5 64 ALUPKA. [chap. 

rated mosque and flat-roofed houses ; and it was 
pleasant to see the women and girls, with their 




golden diadems and frontlets of coins, gathered on 
the house-tops to greet the Prince and Princess of 
Wales. At 3.30 the party sat down to a hot lunch 
in the noble dining saloon of the Palace, the honours 
being done by Prince Troubetsko, in the absence of 
Prince Woronzow. 

The Eoyal visitors returned to Livadia, and 
having exchanged telegrams with the Czar prepared 
to go on board the frigate. 



xx.] DEPARTURE FROM THE CRIMEA. 505 

Sir A. Buchanan, in addition to the personal 
messages of the Prince to the Emperor, forwarded 
an official despatch through the Embassy to Prince 
GortschakofT to express the high sense entertained 
of the reception given to the Eoyal party. The 
leave-taking at Alupka was a very pretty sight. 
General Kotzebue, Count Stenbock, General 
Jukovsky, Baron Osten Sacken, Mr. Hiterowa, 
Mr. Stevens, and the Mufti Kadi of the Tartar 
Guard, bade their Eoyal Highnesses good-bye on 
the shore, a little impromptu battery in the Palace 
Gardens fired a Eoyal salute, the crowd on the 
rocks cheered and waved their hats, and the band 
of the Ariadne played " God preserve the Em- 
peror." There was an exchange of photographs and 
kind words ; and as the shores of the Crimea faded 
from view in the gathering darkness, there were 
pleasanter memories to be stored up of our brief visit 
than those who remember the feelings with which 
so many thousands left it some years ago can 
easily imagine. 

It was 6.30 p.m. — a bitter cold wind, a cloudless 
sky — when the Ariadne signalled to the Psyche to 
proceed, hoisted up boats, weighed anchor, and 
steered for the Bosphorus, the Prince and Princess 
remaining on deck till the lovely panorama, with 



566 ATTRACTIONS TO TOURISTS. [chap. 

tints fast fading into the universal neutral tint of 
sea and sky, began to recede and melt into a rugged 
coast line. 

It has always been a matter of surprise to me that 
the beauties of the south coast of the Crimea, quite 
unrivalled in their way, do not tempt more of our 
3^achting and travelling world. Sebastopol is an 
admirable port, and, in addition to it and Balaclava, 
there are harbours at Kaffa, or Theodosia, and Kertch. 
The Black Sea, notwithstanding the bad name it 
bears and the character given to it by Byron, is no 
worse than its neighbours. The battle-fields of Alma, 
Inkerman, and Balaclava, and the scene of the great 
struggles on the plateau, must be deeply interesting. 
To military men and engineers they present much to 
study, although the art of attack and defence has 
been so much modified that the old trenches and 
batteries may be considered to belong to a system 
as obsolete as that of the Greeks or Romans. 
But to all, the scenery must be ever attractive 
and delightful. The best plan would be to leave 
the yacht at Sebastopol, hire horses from the 
Tartars, who can be caught in the villages or 
engaged through the medium of the hotel-keepers, 
and with an interpreter ride along the coast as far 
as Aloushta, turn and cross the Tchatir Dagh or 



xx.] ATTRACTIONS TO TOURISTS. 567 

Tent mountain, 6,000 feet high, a beautiful ride 
to Simferopol or Bakshi-Serai, the latter most inte- 
resting, and so round to Sebastopol ; a very easy 
week's work. At Yalta there is a fair inn, kept 
by a Frenchwoman, who nourished in the time 
of the war, and can tell of a mishap which befell a 
certain colonel of police one night after the peace, 
when a party of English officers from the army in 
front of Sebastopol passed. There is delicious wine, 
good beef, mutton, bread, and milk to be had. 
The stranger is permitted to view the Woronzow 
Palace, the rides and drives through the grounds 
of which cannot be surpassed ; and he need not 
fear disturbing the Princess or her son, as they 
are very rarely at the Palace. Orianda will also 
be open to him, and permission can be had, I 
believe, at all times to view the Imperial Palace 
and cottages — for there are three — at the Imperial 
residence of Livadia. The great change which has 
occurred since the war is in the population. The 
Tartars have almost disappeared, and their villages 
are pulled down or have fallen to ruin. This was 
the result of the mistaken policy, as I and as others 
who are better judges think, which caused some 
60,000 or 70,000 of these Nogays to be sent away 
from the Crimea on account of their sympathy with 



56S THE TARTARS. [chap. 

the Allies, or rather for their hostility to the Bus- 
sians. It is averred that they plundered villas and 
houses, and gave help to us ; but it would have been 
wiser to let bygones be bygones. One consequence 
is that the traveller, who could have found shelter in 
any of the villages, and who would have seen a most 
interesting life, is now obliged to make longer jour- 
neys, and to trust to chance for quarters if he 
halts short of certain stages. The more English- 
men and Englishwomen who go to the Crimea, the 
greater will be the amount of popular feeling brought 
to bear on the question of our cemeteries ; for no one 
can witness their present condition without shame and 
indignation — all the more when it is considered we 
are the most wealthy nation in the world, and that it 
is inferred our neglect proceeds from sordid parsi- 
mony. 

In these days, a man who talks of ten or fifteen 
years ago is a nuisance. In America they have 
almost forgotten all about the civil war. 

" Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage." 
The Crimea is a bore to the present generation. The 
hero who was the dearest object of popular affection 
at the time, is as obsolete as Marlborough or the Mar- 
quis of Granby. But those who saw Sebastopol must 
admit that there was a result which, for the present, 



xx.] THE WAR. 5G9 

at all events, is as effective and conclusive as was 
that of Waterloo. " The first and last of fields, king- 
making victory," was, among other things, intended 
to keep a Bourbon on, and to keep a Bonaparte 
off, the throne. We need not ask onrselves in 
1869 how far that policy was successful in its 
largest scope. The Bussian officers who were in 
waiting on the Prince of Wales took no pains to 
affect indifference to the consequences of the war. 
More candid and outspoken men it would not be 
possible for any country to send on such an errand 
as lay before them. They took a pride in pointing 
out the vastness of the destruction we had wrought. 
They " were in love with, ruin." Sebastopol is at 
once a monument of their defensive power and a proof 
of their respect for those treaties, which, they aver, 
have not been respected by others. General Ignatieff 
said to me, " It must be admitted that none but a 
Bussian or an English army could have so long 
held that narrow belt, into which a storm of iron 
and lead was hurled for so many months." But 
Bussia could not drive the Allies from the Crimea 
nor sweep the invader from her soil. To the 
extent of that inability she lost power and pres- 
tige, and had Kars been relieved a considerable 
shock would have been given to her renown in the 



570 THE RESULTS OF THE WAR. [chap. 

East, though it might not have been possible to have 
averted the conquest and civilization of Circassia, to 
which the close of the war gave her time to devote 
her legions. Eussia is now well aware that, though 
Sebastopol is gone, she could, in case of war, assemble 
the 53 or 54 vessels of her Navigation Company, 
and throw on the shore of Turkey, a corps which, 
with aid from the side of the Danube, would render 
all the defences of the Bosphorus valueless. 

April 16th. — The sea played the courtier once 
more, and though the wind was ahead it was very 
light, and finally died away at noon, leaving the 
surface as smooth as glass. Great shoals of porpoises 
and skipjacks played about the ship. The Prince, 
who certainly cannot be accused of " nursing " a cold, 
or of " coddling " himself up, has almost fought 
through his attack, but he did not come in to break- 
fast, and remained in his room till midday. At 
3 o'clock "land" was reported. The Turkish chi- 
bouquejees, who have been in a condition of sus- 
pended animation, brightened up immensely. They 
are excellent fellows. When the Prince and Princess 
left for the Crimea, in addition to presents of sheep, 
lambs roasted whole, flowers, sweetmeats, three chi- 
bouquejees were embarked, to instruct the black page 
in the art of making coffee and cigarettes — grave 



xx.] « VP-FIRKIN y 571 

men in black frock-coats with Quaker collars, and 
white ties and gloves, and black trousers and 
patent-leather boots, who glided about like shadows. 
With great decorum and submission to fate they 
resigned themselves to life on the main deck during 
the voyage, and their only luggage, clean and neat as 
they always were, appeared to be a curious block of 
wood, like a solid pudding-dish, which I found every 
morning in the " equerry's room," where I write. 
This resolved itself eventually into a shape for dressing 
the fez upon. Where they slept was a mystery ; I 
suspect a bath-room on the main deck, at the door of 
which I generally saw one standing of a morning, 
watching with great interest the proceedings of the 
Eev. Mr. Onslow and his " young friends," the cadets, 
with rulers, compasses, and books at a table outside 
my cabin-door. The excellent rector of Sandringham 
was always at his post, and if his young friends were 
as willing to learn as he was to teach, they had every 
chance of becoming excellent navigators and accom- 
plished seamen. His yoke was easy, and he did not 
at all interfere with an institution called, as well as I 
can make out, " up-firkin," which was much in vogue 
amongst the youngsters, although they would have 
strongly objected to it on the part of a dominie. It 
was a sort of Busbeian exercitation, practiced pro- 



572 AN ACCIDENT. [chap. 

miscuously on the person of any youth who offended 
against an unwritten code of caprice, and was sup- 
posed to he a corrective of excessive animal spirits, 
" cheek," and general want of obedience to the " big 
boys. 5 ' There is an idea that this and " cutting 
down'"' at night conduce to form character, and are 
indispensable to the naval aspirant's career. 

In the evening we made the entrance to the 
Bosphorus. Captain Campbell intended to anchor 
off Buyukderek for the night ; but as it was 
desired by the Prince that he should run closer 
to Constantinople, the steamers continued their 
course. As we were passing down the Bosphorus, 
blue lights were burnt, and on every fort and 
parapet guards turned out, and bands were heard 
playing on shore. TTe brought up off' the Palace of 
Dolmabakshi after dusk, in 15 fathoms of water. In 
swinging round to her anchor the Ariadne was car- 
ried by the current agaiust two vessels at anchor, 
one after the other, and there was a great crash- 
ing of glass, spars, and boats. Her Eoyal Highness, 
amid all the noise, never evinced any alarm or 
perturbation. We had an escape of fouling an iron- 
clad, in which we must have had the worst of it. 
A cry of C£ ]\Ian overboard" was raised; over went 
the lifebuoy, and in a most creditably short space of 



xx.] BAKSHEESH. 573 

time the life-boat after it. But it was fortunately 
a false alarm. Little chance for him in the Bos- 
phorus at night. The Psyche was equally unfortu- 
nate. She fouled a vessel, and lost her pet gig. The 
Sultan, who was at one of the windows of his Palace, 
saw the collision ; and in a few moments an officer 
came off to know if any assistance was needed. It 
was lucky for somebody, at all events, for the owners 
of the vessels at once gathered themselves up on the 
question of damages, and Sir P. Francis was called 
into play, and so was the Imperial dockyard, and a 
" little bill" was sent in to the Admiralty. Eaouf 
Pasha came on board at 9.30, as we were dining, to 
ascertain the Prince's wishes, and receive orders. 

April 17th. — This morning Mr. Moore came on 
board to breakfast, and was followed by Mr. Elliot. 
The Prince had to administer baksheesh, and it 
was with something like alarm we heard that the 
handsome sedate person who used to hand our coffee 
was a Bey or major, that he was much esteemed, 
selon chibouquejee, by the Sultan, and that it would 
be impossible to offer him money. Therefore the 
Bey had a present instead, and more power to him. 
Mustapha Fazil Pasha bustled on board also, and 
I had the honour of giving him shelter from the storm 
of sailors who were doing all sorts of things on deck, 



5?4 MUSTAPHA FAZIL PASHA. [chap. 

in my cabin, where lie smoked and talked for an hour. 
Note by the way — that wherever yon go on board ship 
yon are in the way, and some one wants to poll at a 
rope in that exact place one minute after you have 
settled down. For a Pasha, it was gruesome to hear 
him. ISo large constituency in England or Scotland 
could refuse to elect him, but he was disrespectful 
about the Pope, and would have no chance in Ireland. 
He is a genuine progress, peace, reform, retrenchment, 
and majesty of the people — man, and believes in 
inevitable democracy, but he has great common sense, 
and his remarks on the future of Turkey were full ot 
ability, although his apprehensions of danger from 
the development of Hungary appeared rather ex- 
travagant. General Ignatieff boarded us early, and 
later in the day returned with Madame Ignatieff. 
About noon the Prince, attended by Lieut. -Colonel 
Teesdale and Captain Ellis, went off in the barge, 
and paid a visit to the Sultan at the Dolmabakshi 
Palace. It was not judged expedient to take the 
rest of the suite. The fact is, that great Turks 
go about with a crowd of pipe-bearers and the like, 
and are apt to consider that the retinue of a British 
Prince is constituted in the same way. When 
His Imperial Majesty was in Buckingham Palace, the 
only difficulty which occurred was caused by the 



xx.] THE SULTAN'S VISIT. 575 

natural supposition that the gentlemen of his suite 
were of equal rank, and would or could dine together. 
A pipe-bearer may be more influential than a minister, 
but that does not affect his social rank. In the Turk's 
eyes there is scarcely such a thing as abstract gen- 
tility or noblesse, and he estimates every man as his 
office gives him position only. The expression on 
the Sultan's face, when the Prince presented us at 
the first formal reception in the Palace was, it 
seemed to us, supercilious ennui. 

Whilst the Prince was away the young gentlemen 
amused themselves by " lorgnetting " the windows of 
the Harem of the Palace, in which indistinct visions 
of light dresses appeared at intervals, but at last a 
black face and a coat intervened, and the visions van- 
ished, and did fiot return. The Princess, escaping 
from the ship, which was crowded with visitors, 
attended by Mrs. Grey and Mr. Moore, had a last 
fond look at the Bazaars, and enjoyed a quiet excur- 
sion through the streets of Stamboul. 

The Sultan came from the Palace in his grand 
caique shortly after the return of the Prince, and was 
received on board with yards manned, cheering, 
band and marines, officers on deck, the Prince and 
Princess, Ambassadors, and suite in a row at the 
gangway. The Prince led His Imperial Majesty 



576 TAHER BEY. [chap. 

down to the main- deck, and to the Eoyal apartments — 
simplex munditiis, certainly. On his return, after a 
short visit, to the npper deck, where he took cordial 
leave of the Prince and Princess, His Majesty 
bowed to the suite, who made their reverence, 
and said a few words to each, which the Grand 
Vizier translated into an expression of his satis- 
faction at seeing us. It is to be hoped no one 
told a fib on the occasion. He departed in great 
state to his Palace. Then the Ambassadors, Mrs. 
Elliot, Lady Buchanan, Madame IgnatiefT, Aali Pasha, 
Mustafa Fazil, Halini Pasha, Halil Pasha, and many 
others, were entertained at lunch below, and an 
hour later took leave, and were piped over the 
side. Taher Bey went away in very good spirits, 
for the Prince has said a good word for him — 
a Turk of Scutari, who speaks no end of languages, 
was in the Crimea as interpreter, strayed away to 
India, became Kotwalof Shahjehanpore in Eohilkund 
during the mutiny, and who now finds himself 
Superintendent of Police in Constantino}Dle. Mr. 
Elliot and his wife received the expression of the 
Prince and Princess's cordial acknowledgments of 
their attention, to which the suite would certainly 
contribute if it were of any value. Mr. Moore 
departed, bearing with him the best wishes of the 



xx.] DEPARTURE FROM THE BOSPHORVS. 577 

Prince and Princess ; and it is to be Loped their 
wishes will turn to good account, although our own 
poor aspirations cannot have much effect on the 
flinty walls of Spring Gardens. 

It was black night (7.30) when the Ariadne, 
followed by the Psyche and Caradoc, the latter with 
Sir A. and Lady Buchanan on board, weighed 
and stood down the Bosphorus. Hobart Pasha 
prepared his fleet, augmented by two iron turret 
ships bought in France, and a fine frigate, to 
give a parting to the Royal guests, in a very 
charming display of bouquets of rockets, coloured 
lanterns, and blue lights, in which the Turks 
excel; the Ariadne replied with blue fires at the 
yard-arms. And so we bade a second and last good- 
bye to Constantinople and to the dwelling of the 
man who was once sick, and who is now well- — at 
least as far as those who cannot feel his pulse may 
judge. 



p p 



CHAPTER XXI. 



A BREEZE OF WIND. — THE DARDANELLES. THE PIRJEUS. 

MODERN ATHENS. THE ACROPOLIS. STATE BAN- 
QUET. THEATRE OF BACCHUS. ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 

CORFU. THE KINO OF THE HELLENES. ST. SPIRI- 

DION. GOVINO AND VIDO. BENIZZE. 

April 18th. — We sped on through the night 
across the Sea of Marmora ; at 8 a.m. ran by Gal- 
lipoli with a freshening breeze, and a few miles 
further down the Dardanelles met the full force 
of a "regular snorter/' which sent northern-bound 
vessels flying, under bare poles or shreds of stay- 
sails and jibs, towards the Golden Horn, and 
forced all "outward-bounds" to bring up on the 
Asiatic side of the Straits, near Chanak. At 10.30 
a.m. Captain Campbell judged it right to anchor, 
north of the Castle of Asia, and soon after the 
Psyche let go her anchors astern of us. No one who 
witnessed the downright ferocity of the gale all day, 



xxi.] ANCHORED IN THE DARDANELLES. 579 

and who knew what are the usual amenities of the 
sea outside in such weather, could hesitate to approve 
of the course. There was the Austrian Lloyd's 
steamer obliged to bring up. A great Turkish 
steamer, full of troops, had to follow her example. 
All around us, with two anchors down, were brigs and 
polaccas and barks, rising and falling on the seas, 
taking in spray and green wafer over the bow ; smaller 
vessels running for shelter or dragging their anchors : 
and an ever-passing flotilla of craft scudding to the 
north before the furious blast. At noon the Ariadne 
let go a second anchor, and rode like a duck on a pond. 

The chaplain had service at 11 o'clock. There is 
a harmonium, played by one of the officers, and the 
men and boys sing very nicely. After church 
we watched the ships and the sea. A Turkish boat 
broke adrift— a small craft with three men — and was 
in great danger, bat the fellows were thorough sailors, 
and as cool as any Jack Tar who ever anchored 
in Plymouth Sound. They got up a shred of sail 
and ran for it, and weathering a point very neatly 
brought up inside in the smooth water to leeward. A 
day like this enables one to bring up arrears of writing, 
which is difficult to accomplish when he is always en 
route, bat my room offers great attractions to the 
idlers, and they are too pleasant to be sent away. 

p p 2 



580 DEPARTURE FROM THE DARDANELLES. [chap. 

April 19 tli.- — At 7.30 my marine, Boxall, coming in 
with a cup of coffee, reported " no sign of clearing, 
strong wind, black all round, sir ! " And it did rain 
with a vengeance. Captain Campbell resolved to 
stick to his anchors, as there was no use in driving 
the Ariadne through head seas and causing the 
Princess discomfort, and doing no good to anybody. 
The Prince rather likes a breeze, by the way, and but 
for the Princess would go on, as his time is getting 
very short. At 10 o'clock the Caradoc anchored 
near us with Sir A. and Lady Buchanan on board, 
and the Ambassador came off in a water-spout, and 
so did Yice-Consul Wrench. At noon the wind 
moderated, but the rain if possible fell more heavily 
than ever. At 3 o'clock weighed, and under salute 
from the forts of Europe and Asia, and an Egyptian 
steam yacht, the vessel stood out of the Dardanelles. 
There was a little jumble of a sea off the coast of 
the Trond, but we did not feel it much, and managed 
lcf)b avdacreiv TeveSoio. It became so smooth that 
the Prince and Princess were enabled to gratify the 
ship's company by attending a performance which 
was, alas ! and of course, of the inevitable " Ethiopian 
Serenader " sort. Their Eoyal Highnesses had seats 
placed on the main deck, outside the dining saloon. 
Mrs. Grey, the suite, and the Captain, Chaplain, 



xxl] THE ETHIOPIAN SERENA HERS. 581 

&c, sat at the sides, and in front the " minstrels," 
with blackened faces, portentous shirt collars, and the 
usual attire of the vocal African of the streets, were 
arranged in a semicircle, with the banjo, bones, and 
other instruments of torture, enclosed in a frame 
of hairy bronzed faces — marines and sailors. The 
whole scene, illuminated by the ship's lanterns, very 
pretty and characteristic. More amusing than the 
singing, which was by no means bad, was the expres- 
sion on the face of the black boy Selim, the Prince's 
page. There is another boy on board, belonging to 
— I was going to say deported by — Lord Carington, 
who is not quite so black as Selim, and he seemed not 
to care for the capers of the minstrels ; but the other 
stood aghast, with his great eyes staring with an 
indescribable look, and when he was observed, hid 
himself in the saloon or crept out of sight. Why 
these men blacked their faces was to him a mystery 
of mysteries. And may we own to a similar stupend- 
ous wonder ? After this entertainment the Prince 
visited the officers of the ward-room with some of 
his suite, and there was a good deal of youthful 
talent eliminated — one prodigy, not quite an infant, 
but not very old, executing an unknown Italian opera 
or part of one. There was a quantity of " up-flrkin " 
administered after the Prince retired, and then the 



582 THE PIRMUS. [chap. 

cries of distress of several of our little friends who 
were cut down penetrated into my berth, prepared 
for the infliction as I was. In the morning they 
are all the better for it, but at night they must suffer 
acutely. One of the Crimean sheep died to-day, and 
the remaining gazelle goes about with its legs ban- 
daged, as it has also suffered at sea. It is a most 
courageous little creature, fights with anything, loves 
the fire in the saloon, which is lighted at times, and 
lies as snug as though it were abed in the desert. 

April 20th. — The Ariadne passed Cape Colonna 
and the Temple of Minerva at 9.30 a.m. The 
weather was then fine, but in half an hour gathering 
clouds obscured the coast and soon after the rain 
fell in torrents. Classically-minded people tried to 
comfort themselves by peering out of dim telescopes ; 
and practically-minded people went below and sought 
solace and shelter in ward or gun-room. At 12.45 
the Ariadne, attended by the Psyche and Cara- 
doc, cast anchor in the port, in which the Royal 
Oak, Captain Hilly ar, a French, a Russian, an 
Italian, and three Greek men-of-war, a few mer- 
chant vessels, and small craft were anchored. 
The ships were dressed in flags, but the rain 
washed them into drooping water-spouts. It was a 
full uniform day. All the suite turned out en grande 



xxi] THE ROYAL MEETING. 583 

tenue. The awnings on the deck of the Ariadne 
could not avert the baptism of the lace-and-feathers 
finery which it was the order of the day to wear. 
There was a gathering of boats alongside as soon as 
we anchored, with cloaked officers, whose dresses 
had a sorry time of it. Admiral Boutakoff, brother 
of the famous officer of that name, who was em- 
ployed against us at Sebastopol, and several repre- 
sentatives of Foreign powers, boarded the frigate, 
and waited on the deck till the King arrived to 
welcome the Prince and his sister 

The deck gradually became thronged by Russian, 
French, and Italian officers and diplomatists, seeking 
dry places and rarely finding them. Sir A. Bu- 
chanan and Mr. Erskine arrived, accompanied by Mr. 
Herbert and Mr. Bowyer Smyjth, who were received 
with due honour. At 1.30 p.m. a rapid salute shore- 
wards announced the arrival of the King ; it was 
taken up by the Royal Oak and other men-of-war 
near at hand; yards were manned, and the sound 
of cheering came through humid vapours thickened 
by the smoke of gunpowder. The Prince and suite 
appeared on the main deck, where were the officers, 
headed by Captain Campbell, and a guard of honour 
of the Royal Marines drawn up. The King stepped 
on deck, was received by three cheers and one cheer 



584 THE LANBIXG. [chap. 

more from the men aloft, by the Greek National 
Hymn, and the fall staff of the suite and ship with 
uncovered heads. 

The Princess appeared on deck to welcome her 
brother, who was received at the gangway by the 
Prince of Wales. The whole party hastened below, 
where the Prince presented the members of his 
suite to the King, whose staff was also presented 
to the Prince in the saloon. 

His Majesty wore the uniform of an admiral in 
the Danish navy, and seemed to feel no ordinary 
pleasure in meeting his sister and his brother-in- 
law. His uncle, Prince Frederick, in the uniform 
of a Knight of Malta, and a staff of half-a-dozen 
officers — Major Poncke, Major Sperling, P. M. 
Kolocotronis, Officier d'Ordonnance, Lieut.-Colonel 
Pappadiamantoupolos, A.D.C., Major Sachtouris, 
A.D.C., &c. — were in attendance on the King. 

The King is gracious and frank, and a touch of 
his cordial sailor life oftentimes rises to the surface, 
when the buoyancy of youth allows him to forget 
the aliquid amari which lies over high office, and 
nowhere more heavily and constantly than in 
Greece. Lunch was served to the united Royal 
parties. The rain abated somewhat, and the Royal 
barges set out for shore at 2.30, under cheers and 



xxi.] THE LANDIXG. 585 

salutes from the ships all around. The carpet on the 
landing-place was strewed with fresh flowers, and the 
windows of the houses were filled with people who 
saluted generally, but cheered not, as the visitors landed. 
There was a liberal display of flags, and the Piraeus 
did its best under the circumstances. There was a 
very respectable crowd in the streets. The pitiless 
rain still drenched the gay dresses of the young 
ladies, the feathers of the Greek officers and of the 
Chevaux Lexers of the Guard of Honour. " Eaten 
bread," they say, "is soon forgotten;" but whatever 
may be the passions and disappointments of the hour, 
the Greeks cannot but remember that Great Britain 
has ever been the steady friend of their cause — not 
the fosterer of vain ambition. On the eager, keen- 
eyed faces of the people there was an expression of 
unfeigned satisfaction and interest in the Eoyal visit. 
Orange-flowers, wreaths, and banners with inscrip- 
tions of welcome decorated the pier. A triumphal 
arch was erected before the Eailway Station, where 
another guard of honour was on duty, with a band. 
The platform was very elegantly dressed with laurels, 
flags, and flowers, and inside and out the crowd 
saluted the King, Prince, and Princess most cour- 
teously and respectfully. A special train was in 
waiting, and the Eoyal party whisked through the 



5S6 THE KING'S PALACE. [chap. 

famous Olive Forest, by the course of the old walls, 
between Athens and the Piraeus, to the King's Palace. 
As they entered the portals, the sky cleared, the 
sun shone out, and very speedily drove away the 
clouds seawards. Carriages, escorted by a detach- 
ment of very smart-looking cavalry, in a neat 
G-er man-looking uniform, conveyed the party to the 
Palace. 

The Palace stands in a fine position on a slope of 
Mount Lycabettus, and rears a broad front of marble, 
quarried from Pentelicus, towards the city, from 
which it is separated by a broad stretch of shrubbery 
and lawn, open to the public, prettily laid out and 
planted. Spacious roads and walks, like boulevards, 
lead from the space in front to a crescent of houses, 
several of them hotels, from which radiate some of 
the principal streets. The eastern side of the Palace 
abuts on a charming and extensive garden, also open 
to the people, and much frequented in the afternoon. 
All the walls and the internal courts are of fine marble, 
and the two magnificent state rooms, worthy of Im- 
perial banquets, are supported on rich columns of the 
same material, with gilded capitals. The rooms are 
large, lofty, and well furnished ; those of the King and 
Queen are elegant, rich, and comfortable. All the ap- 
pointments are very good, and there is an excellent 



xxi.J TEE VIEWS. 587 

library, where a learned and cosmopolitan Dane, Dr. 
Koppen, familiar with many lands and many languages, 
works away in old-world volumes, and shrouds himself 
in the dust of the Middle Ages. The views from the 
windows on all sides are extremely beautiful and 
interesting. On one side you can see the Piraeus and 
the Bay of Salamis, and the road from the capital 
by the long walls, running like a white riband 
through the green fields and olive forests of the 
Attic plain. On another side you look out on the 
groves of Academus, and along the road to Phyle, 
by the folds of Mount Anchesmus. Look from 
another side, and the Acropolis rises before you, 
and down below trickles the Ilissus, as if seeking 
to bury its degradation in the friendly earth. At 
another side your eye rests on " purpureos colles 
florentis Hymetti," and the blue waters of the Pha- 
lerean Bay. In the city beneath, modern Athenians 
sit in coffee-shops and seek after new things, busy 
(but not always as honey-making) as the bees which 
hum through the flowery meads. There is a very good 
band, taken from the musicians of different battalions, 
which pla}< s in the mornings and during dinner ; and, 
although there is no theatre open now, there is quite 
enough at Athens to enable a visitor to pass his time, 
and find it short, without scenic representations. 




vests, rich sashes, white Fustanells of innumerable 
plaits, and embroidered cloth greaves from knee to 
shoe-sole — some such fiercely moustachioed, heroic- 
looking gentlemen that a stranger in a shooting- 
jacket can scarcely venture to ask for hot water, even 
if he knows the modern Greek for it. Some of them 
speak Grerman, in remembrance of the Othonic era; 
a few speak French or Italian, and they are presided 
over by a chef, who would be remembered by those 



xxi.] MODERN ATHENS. 589 

familiar with, the Embassy at Paris in Lord Cowley's 
time. Many Englishmen will know also the cour- 
teous M. Eodostomos, who is Maitre cle la Cour to the 
Kin sr. It was a comfort to get out of uniform, and 
to wander about the town. 

Athens has certainly improved very much since 
the period of the Ci occupation " during the war with 
Russia. What the increase in the population may 
be I cannot say, but the city is enlarged and beauti- 
fied. Nevertheless, like a mistletoe on a ruined oak, 
it clings to and grows from decay. Take away the 
Acropolis and the Temples, and what have you but 
glorious sites and the memories that haunt them ? 
Cities, however, do not flourish on sites or memories 
either. I cannot but think it was a mistake to build 
up the new city round the grand old monuments of 
a civilization which is not dead, but lives every day 
of our lives. The present buildings hinder the 
reconstruction of the old, and forbid or impede 
explorations. Still, there they are, " with gas and 
water laid on " — shops of modistes, where the 
Aspasia of the hour may find the newest Paris 
fashions to charm her kid-gloved Pericles — needful 
magazines for necessity or luxury, in long array, 
crossing the outlet of the old Holy Road to Eleusis 
and Daphne's Wood, and creeping upwards towards 



590 THE ACROPOLIS. [chap. 

the feet of the storied crag where rest in immortal 
beauty the ruins which " enchant the world." 

April 21st. — The King, Prince, Princess, and 
suite paid a visit to the Acropolis. It was a lovely 
forenoon. The air had all that transparent lightness 
which gives the landscape such wonderful charms. 
The Royal carriages, preceded by an outrider in 
light blue and silver on a white horse, passed from 
the portico with the usual honours of a guard, arms 
presented and a flourish of trumpets, and so 
through streets lined with people (who bowed and 
took off their hats very generally as the cortege went 
by), till they emerged on the open ground, and as- 
cended to the arch before the Propylsea of the 
Acropolis. Here they got out, and there I must 
leave them. Another attempt to describe the glorious 
works among which they wandered would be intoler- 
able, even if it were successful. The genius of the 
place cannot be wooed and won by any words that 
man can speak, or made visible to the eye by the 
alchemy of any colours his hand can mix. Dr. 
Koppen, charged with multitudinous information, and 
ready to let it off in any language, was ready to illustrate 
every stone with a story from the earliest period to 
the present time. Wandering from the Parthenon 
to the Erectheum, the tourists sauntered at their will 



xx r.] ST A TE BANQ UET. 591 

on the Pelasgic rocks, looked down on the spot 
where Demosthenes thundered against Philip, and 
where St. Paul preached of " the Unknown God/' 
and admired all that the rage of heathen, Turk, and 
Christian has left of statuary and temples. 

In the evening there was a State banquet, to which 
the diplomatic body, the Greek Ministers, the 
Patriarch, and the most distinguished men in Athens 
were invited. All the guests were in full uniform. 
The effect of the scene in the noble room was very 
striking, for nowhere could the eye rest on a greater 
variety of colour, set off by the picturesque liveries of 
the attendants, and by a mixture of Oriental and 
European finery. It was wonderful to see what a 
flock of gay-feathered diplomatic birds has settled 
down on this little capital, and one was forced to 
admit that their weight must bear heavily on the 
branches. Indeed, many of the dark-eyed gentlemen 
with high foreheads and lank cheeks, who were 
pointed out as contending Cymons or Cleons, would 
be very glad to get rid of these " Thirty Tyrants," 
and fight it out in their own cheerful, time-honoured 
fashion. Among the company was General Church 
— the first and last Field-Marshal of Greece — who is 
popularly said to be a century old. What truth 
there may be in the report I cannot say, but I am 



592 THEATRE OF BACCHUS. [chap. 

credibly told that lie rises at some dark hour 
every morning, and mounts his horse and canters 
gaily about the Pirseic plains. He is but a C.B. 
Perhaps when he is 101 or so, he may be permitted 
to put a K. before these magic letters. 

April 22nd. — The King, the Prince and Prin- 
cess inspected the most interesting of all the 
monuments which Athens can boast — the Dionysion, 
or Theatre of Bacchus — now thoroughly restored to 
the light of day. It is in a state of wonderful preser- 
vation. One can drop into a stall and sit where Pericles 
sat, or take the private box of the Hierophant, much 
more readily than he can find a place in the new 
Opera-house. The pit and dress-circle are perfect ; 
you can read the names of the occupants, or rather 
their offices, on the reserved chairs as plainly as you 
can Mrs. Veneering' s or Lady Bendigo's on the door 
of their boxes in Co vent Garden. In the afternoon 
the King and Prince walked to Phillipappos, and to 
the Temple of the Winds. After dinner we had 
a very beautiful illumination of a very fine pile of 
public buildings, and a display of fireworks for the 
city folk who could not get tickets of admission 
for the inner show. If the owls of Minerva, which 
flapped their way with many hootings out into the 
wilderness, forget it, they must be very oblivious 



xxi.] ILLUMINATIONS. 593 

indeed. I am not quite sure that the Acropolis is a 
fair subject for blue-lights, red-lights, green-lights, 
fireworks, and dazzling displays a la Cremorne and 
Eosherville ; but, at any rate, it was a very fine 
sight to see, and if the proprieties and unities were 
dishevelled, it was to some purpose that this, the most 
venerable and sacred locality in the classical world, 
was for once turned into a fairy transformation scene. 
" No one was hurt." Athens was pleased, and so must 
have been all who beheld, as we did, an exhibition of 
very great skill, turning to the best account in its 
way a most admirable collection of architectural 
beauties. M. Metaxa was, I think, the contriver of 
the effect, in which he was probably assisted by the 
King, whose artistic taste is well developed. The 
night was calm, the sky clear, and a moon in the 
third quarter cast from her high throne her own 
glorious light, when the fiery rockets and the devices 
of the pyrotechnists died out. The skill shown in 
the use of the coloured lights was the more plain to 
those who could contrast the result obtained by 
throwing great masses of red, green, blue, orange, 
and crimson on the pillars and interiors of the temples 
from unseen sources, with that which followed the use 
of visible machinery : in other words, the men who 
directed the lights at Athens were hidden behind 



594 DEPARTURE FOR CORFU. [chap. 

columns and stones, while the men who lighted up 
the temple at Thebes could be seen by the spectators. 
The arrangements were good, but the people were 
so very pressing, that now and then the party 
was broken up and divided. There was an immense 
throng on the Acropolis, and when some unearthly ray 
fell on the mass of faces, an "eldrich." creeping came 
over one as they flickered, ghost-like, in the ruins. 

Friday, April 23rd. — Adieu to Athens ! The 
King. Prince, Princess, and suite left the Palace 
at half-past 10 o'clock and drove to the Pail way 
Station, where General Church and many officers of 
state were in waiting. In 10 minutes they arrived 
at the Piraeus, and embarked on board the Greek 
gunboat Salamis, and steamed out of the harbour 
at 12 o'clock. We departed on a fine windy fore- 
noon, the streets full of people, flags flying, bands 
playing, station crowded, taking the inner passage 
by Salamis to Kalamaki, on the eastern side of the 
Isthmus of Corinth. Dr. Koppen was full of fight, 
and illustrated the coast line by incessant flashes of 
classical knowledge, and handled Xerxes and The- 
mistocles as though he were personally acquainted 
with them. At half-past 2 we were clear of Salamis, 
and arrived at Kalamaki at 4 o'clock. Here we 
left the Greek gunboat and were put on shore, where 



xxr.] ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 595 

carriages were in waiting to take us across the 
Isthmus. An escort of cavalry was in attendance, 
and along the rocky mountain road, for a distance of 
6 miles, there were infantry patrols to guard the 
King and his guests from a sudden dash of his 
irrepressible brigands, just to make it quite safe. From 
the top of the mountain ridge New Corinth came 
in view ; the Ariadne, the Psyche, the Caradoc, 
the Greek frigate Hellas, and the King's yacht 
Amphitrite were seen anchored at the head of the 
Bay at the other side. It was blowing still stiffly, 
and the departure from shore in boats, and arrival 
on board the Ariadne, was not unattended with 
difficulty. At 8 o'clock p.m. the Ariadne, followed 
by the little fleet, with the exception of the Hellas, 
weighed and stood down the straits of Corinth, which 
were to some of us very much what they were to 
my Uncle Toby, when Mr. Shandy read him the 
passage from one of Cicero's letters concerning the 
ancient glories of the place. After dinner the King 
and the Prince were entertained in the ward-room, 
where the officers celebrated the occasion by some 
excellent singing. 

April 24th. — Calm sea. An unspotted cloudless 
sky. Passed Cephalonia at sunrise. At 10 a.m. 
Corfu in sight. '£1$ ore ptvov ev rjepoeiBe'i itovtco At 



596 ARRIVAL AT CORFU. [chap. 

2.50 p.m. the Ariadne anchored .under the town, fol- 
lowed by the Amphitrite, Psyche, and Caradoc. The 
Greek bine and white instead of the red, white, and 
bine ! Yido a mined heap ! What a change since 
I was here last — or since the Prince visited it a few 
years ago ! No yachts moored in the little bay under 
the Citadel — no red coats on the parapets. The 
stately fortifications have gone, and left not a rack 
behind, save mounds of shattered masonry. No 
doubt it was right to give it all up, but it is a pang 
to him who remembers the past, and who felt the 
sentiment of the lines — 

" England ! we love thee better than we know. 
This did I learn when, after wandering long 
Mid people of another race and tongue, 
I heard at length thy martial music blow, 
And saw thy warrior-children to and fro 
Pace, keeping ward " 

The Turks do not approve of the step, at all 
events. "You have set a precedent which you 
cannot resist in time to come, when it may do you 
as much mischief as it is now causing us," was the 
remark of one minister at Pera. "The Greeks 
believe they did all by force — there 's not one of 
them who does not think he fought at Troy and beat 
Xerxes." We drew the teeth we put in at Corfu, at 
all events. 



xxr.] THE QUEEN. 597 

The old Flagstaff Battery fired a salute with the 
only guns left in the place. The King, Prince, 
Princess, Mrs. Grey, and suite, attended by Consul- 
Greneral Saunders and Mr. Cohen, went on shore 
after lunch. They were received in state by the 
Artillery of the Municipal Guard, who made a very 
handsome show, volunteers as they are, the Heads 
of Universities, the Foreign Consuls, the British 
residents, and the citizens, through whose lines 
they passed to the Palace, meeting on all sides a 
very warm reception from the people. 

As the Ariadne approached, a lady could be made 
out through the glass, waving a white kerchief in 
the balcony of the Palace. It was the Queen, who 
was awaiting the arrival of her husband and his 
guests at the Palace steps. She welcomed the Eoyal 
party with great warmth and grace, and her exquisite 
fairness excited universal admiration. The meeting 
between the Eoyal sisters-in-law was very warm and 
pleasant to see. 

Prince William of Grliicksberg, the King's uncle, 
better known to the Austrian army as the Prince 
of Holstein, who commanded the heavy cavalry re- 
serve on the fatal day of Koeniggratz, was also 
present, but Prince Frederick was too unwell to 
leave Athens. 



598 LENT. [chap. 

The King, Queen, Prince, and Princess drove to 
tire Casino. Sir Frederick Adam, one of the British 
"Lord High's," built some 30 years ago a pretty 
little cottage, on a wooded bluff about a mile and 
a half outside the city walls, as a summer resi- 
dence, and there the Royal pair live in Arcadian 
simplicity and comfort in their summer vacation . 
If one were to judge of the place by the size of 
the Duke of Sparta, it must be the healthiest 
spot in the world ; for his Royal Highness, at the 
age of eight months, would cany away the prize 
at any baby-show in the world, and give a couple 
of pounds in to the next best boy or girl. But, 
in fact, there is a drawback to the delightful 
situation. The arrival of the Prince and Princess 
is rather awkward, for the Greeks are keeping Lent 
most strictly, and the men are cross, and the women 
look yellow, and amusements and gaiety are not 
permitted ; but I doubt, nevertheless, if the Princess, 
at all events, enjoyed any part of her travels so 
much as the quiet week with her brother and his 
queen in this most beautiful island. 

Dinner took place in the Casino at 7 o'clock, 
and the party was limited to the King and Queen, 
the Prince, Princess, and suite, and a few officers of 
the Court. The gentlemen were presented to the 



xxi.] GREEK ASPIRATIONS. 599 

Queen, who said a few kind words to each in 
English. Afterwards there was a reunion in the 
billiard-room, and ihuminations from the ships in 
harbour, which produced a very brilliant effect. 

The corvette Askiold, commanded by Admiral 
Boutakoff, bringing the Russian Minister from 
Athens, came in during the night. 

The clouds which hung over the shores of Greece 
have not yet cleared away. They have risen to the 
mountain-tops, but they lie there, couched in dark- 
ness and charged with storm. The gloom, however, 
so far dispersed as to permit the Royal travellers to 
visit a land which, dear to all who feel that the Present 
is burdened with a debt of gratitude to the Past, 
offers to them personally attractions more powerful 
than sentimental memories. ~No one with the least 
feeling can understand the position in which the King 
of Greece now stands, without an earnest sympathy. 
The old tragedians were fond of depicting the struggles 
of Man with inevitable Destiny, and we are told that 
one of the noblest spectacles the moral world can 
afford is the sight of the brave and good contending 
with fate. The characters produced in fiction to 
illustrate the hopelessness of the conflict were aged 
Kings or Chiefs of Men. And yet their griefs 
touched the heart, and their fancied miseries wrung 



GOO BROTHER AND SISTER. [chap. 

every bosom. Surely, if it could be known how a 
young man, called to a throne at seventeen years 
of age, has had to fight against all the elements 
of evil which can afflict a King — faction within, 
intrigue without, a turbulent present, and a future 
which passion regards as desperate ; — if it could be 
seen how, on the throne to which he was summoned 
by foreign policy, friendless, or with friends from 
whom it would be mercy to save him, he has stood, 
consumed by the love of his people, he has resisted 
the menaces of brawling Cleons, there would be a 
sentiment created in favour of the King of the 
Hellenes in which pity and respect would mingle 
largely with the desire to succour. We can imagine 
how the Princess, to whom these years of anxious 
toil were all familiar, felt when she was free to 
congratulate him on dangers past, and bid him be 
of good cheer. Into the hours of social and loving 
intercourse between two members of the family whose 
paths appear to lie so far apart we must not pry ; but 
surely there was a gleam of warmer and purer sun- 
shine in the sky for the young King when his sister, 
the wife of the Prince who is to rule the country 
that has had so much to do with his fortunes, clasped 
his hand with a smile which is all her own, and came 
to his side in the moment of his trial. 



xxi.] THE KING OF THE HELLENES. 001 

It would be out of place to enter on Greek politics. 
There is a very good precept which tells us to speak of 
things as we find them. If it holds in most cases, 
it is applicable especially to the casual traveller in a 
country who has no means of verifying the stories he 
hears of things which lie beyond his ken. Others, 
with more extended knowledge, may criticize his con- 
clusions and deny the truth of his views if he goes 
a step over the line of what he knows ; but if his 
description of what he sees be accurate, he can 
safelv challenge the most adverse and the most 
experienced ; nor is it unsafe to quote opinions 
and expound views so long as they are fairly given, 
and are not set forth as absolute and positive facts. 
If I were to repeat what I have heard here, it 
might well excite despair of Greece. It is not merely 
that c< quot homines, tot sentential," is the rule, 
but that theories are so violent, so impracticable, or 
so erroneous as to fill the listener with mournful fore- 
bodings. There is one point on which all men agree 
— that things cannot go on as they are. The King 
cannot possibly continue in the throes of such mortal 
agony, and it will be for the Greece which is worthy 
of the name — for the men of patriotism, sense, and 
honest}" — to consider in what way he may be enabled 
to rule a country of which he is in name the King. 



602 THE FUTURE. [chap. 

The remedies suggested for existing evils vary accord- 
ing to the speaker. Some believe there is no chance 
for Greece so long as the present constitution remains 
as a nurse of faction and the fountain of intrigues. 
But how is it to be abrogated ? Some think a loan 
would be convenient, though what they would do 
with it is a moot point; others would be content 
with Epirus and Thessaly, to which many add Crete, 
and most Ehodes and the Archipelagic Islands gene- 
rally. There is a common resentment against the 
Great Powers, especially against Eussia. But few 
who live in that ants' nest of intriguers, Athens, 
think of the King in any other light than that which 
their self-seeking ambition throws around his powers. 
In the intense lust of politicians for place and power, 
all love of country is burnt out. If the factions of 
Athens prevail over the real interests of the Hellenic 
race, the Constitution — never sound or healthy, and 
now undermined by corruption, and rotten from top 
to bottom — will fall, and crush them in a common 
ruin. Surely there is time, as there is occasion, to 
avert such a catastrophe ? The Great Powers have 
said what shall not be. Let them now tell Greece 
what shall be, and for once and for all erect a barrier 
beyond which ambition and faction will not venture 
to look, and inside of which honest and honourable 



xxi.] THE PARTY LEADERS. 603 

men, working out necessary reforms in the repre- 
sentative and executive institutions of the kingdom, 
may hope to realize the anticipations of the world, 
and create a prosperous, united, and powerful Hellenic 
people, ruled by a King devoted to their interests, 
and surrounded, in the language of the poet, by 
" honour, obedience, love, and troops of friends. " 
There is some complaint that Mr. Erskine, by his 
protest against an effort to put her 'financial affairs 
in order, and to pay the public creditors, has pre- 
vented Greece appearing in the market for a new 
loan ; but in London, at least, it would not be easy 
to raise money, unless there was a guarantee that it 
would not be used for political agitation and warlike 
armaments. 

The Chamber has been dissolved. It was a 
Bulgaresque chamber, and, without any particular 
affection for it, the King may have been unwilling 
to part with it. " Better to bear the ills we have, 
than fly to others that we know not of." Elec- 
tions, mean intrigues, corruption, to produce riots, 
brigandage, and violence. M. Koumondouros is said 
to regard only the interest of his party ; M. Bulgaresa 
is accused of looking only to the tyranny of a party. 

Mrs. Grey and the suite resided in the Palace 
in Corfu, the rooms of which are lofty, airy, and 



604 ST. SPIR1DION. [chap. 

comfortable, commanding fine views of the harbour. 
I was lodged in a room over the door of which was 
written f O ypafi/iarevs rod jSaa-CXelov, the pronuncia- 
tion of which would astonish one of our Erasmians. 
Every morning we breakfasted in the Palace at Corfu, 
and in the evening we had the honour of dining with 
the King and Queen, generally returning from the 
Casino about 11 o'clock. 

The nomarch, M. Mavrocordato, is considered 
an able and upright man, and is not subject to 
delusions ; but the Corfiotes are every whit as hostile 
to the Turks as if they had suffered under their 
rule like their fellow subjects on the mainland of 
Greece. The traditions of the time of old Schulen- 
berg, whose statue stands so proudly in front of 
the Government House, still animate them. An 
article in one of the papers on the Eoyal visitors, 
draws a contrast between the receptions at Corfu 
and Constantinople, not at all nattering to the 
Sultan, unless " black slaves and diamonds be con- 
sidered better than the respectful salutations of a 
free and generous people." The Corfiotes did not 
offer "pasticci" on plates of gold by the hands 
of dark persons, but did what the Turk could not 
do. White in face, as candid in manner, they offered 
cordial prayers for the Princess, and that the 



xxi.] THE PROCESSION. 605 

Omnipotent may protect the liberal and generous 
British people. 

April 25th. — Feast of Saint Spiridion. He died 
1,500 years ago. What is said to be his body 
embalmed is carried in a sort of glass case, richly gilt, 
mounted on a sedan chair, so that the mahogany- 
hued face, with closed eyes and gaping mouth, 
twisted at one side, is visible to the crowd. Three 
times a year the Saint's body is carried through 
the streets, accompanied by the priests and clergy 
carrying tapers, in their richest vestments, escorted 
by the garrison and the municipal guard. The sick 
are brought up and laid down, that Saint Spiridion 
may cure them ; and wicked men and women walk 
after his remains, with naked feet, to heal their sins. 
The country people flocked in for miles round, dressed 
in their best ; and the Eussian sailors from the 
corvette, each man carrying a taper lighted, lined 
the street and joined in the procession, the church 
bells ringing peals, and the guns saluting from the 
Flagstaff Battery. 

In the early days of our rule our guns fired salutes 
for St. Spiridion 5 s honour, and our officers of State 
followed in this procession, just as the soldiers of the 
Eussian frigate are doing now. I shall not say a word 
about a ceremonial which had such a potent charm for 



606 ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES. [chap. 

tlie souls and bodies of tens of thousands of Corfiotes, 
and which drew from remote parts of the island 
multitudes of women in their quaint holiday attire ; 
but what can be done with this people if they follow 
what their Church enjoins? "What hope is there of 
regenerating a nation if, in the 365 days of the year, 
it ought to keep some 120 days of feasting, and some 
120 days of fasting? While we, feeling^very much 
as if we were gazing on an Opera scene, were looking 
down at the procession passing through lines of 
soldiery, bands playing, bells tolling, cannon firing, 
mitred prelates, and richly-stoled clergy, all in 
honour of a dreadful-looking thing in a glass case, 
the crowd with uncovered heads, trembling lips, 
and awe-struck eyes, were filled with the holiest 
emotions. 

The King stands fast in his Lutheran faith ; the 
Queen abides by the Church of her people, and is a 
fervent Greek. There is always a link wanting in 
the chain between a Sovereign and his people when 
they are not of the same faith. 

April 26th. — The Queen and Princess drove in the 
island, and the Prince and King rode out upon 
horseback. The Eoyal Oak arrived with Mr. and 
Mrs. Erskine from Athens ; and the Caradoc left for 
Brindisi with Sir Alexander and Lady Buchanan. 



xxi.] A POLITICAL DIFFICULTY. 607 

April 27th. — The King, Queen, Prince, and Prin- 
cess visited the Citadel. The Boyal dinner party 
in the evening was joined by Mr. Yalaority. After 
dinner the Prince, accompanied by most of his 
suite, Prince William, Mr. Czernowitz, and Mr. 
Kriesis, went on board the Psyche, to cross over in 
the morning to the coast of Albania, where the 
Consul- General Sanders had made preparations for 
a shooting party. 

The Prince was very anxious that the King 
should accompany the party, but his Majesty 
had scruples, which appeared to be founded on 
prudence at any rate. Long before the troubles with 
Turkey, the King landed one day from Corfu with 
the Count of Albania, and spent a few hours there. 
On his return to Athens he was waited on by the 
Turkish Minister, who, whether in jest or earnest, 
represented to the King that it would have been 
proper to have made a communication to the Turkish 
authorities ere he set foot in their country. Now 
that there is a very sore feeling, it is needful to take 
every precaution to avoid offence, and above all 
things it would be unadvisable to run the risk of 
exciting the Albanian Christians just now by the 
descent of the King of Greece in company with the 
Heir Apparent of the throne of Great Britain. 



G08 GOVINO AND VIDO. [chap. 

Opinion was divided on the point, however. M. 
Valaority, who dined at the Casino, approved of the 
King's resolve not to go, but " young Greece " gene- 
rally was for " having a go in " at the Albanian 
boars, although their classical memories might have 
taught them it was a dangerous pastime. 

The Royal party visited the Citadel, and the Queen 
and the Princess actually mounted up to the summit. 
This is a tough ascent on a hot day, and Her Majesty's 
condition rendered it what the Americans would 
call " quite a feat," but we are too well accustomed 
now to the Princess's capacity for enduring fatigue 
to do more than wonder how she did it. There was 
also an excursion to Go vino, and lunch was carried 
there in one of the boats ; nor was Yido, which is 
now a quarry-like mass of stones which mark the 
site of the fortress we blew up at the evacuation, 
neglected. The Corfiotes are sore on that point. 
They declare that the islands paid nearly a million 
sterling to the military purposes of the protectorate, 
and that the forts and material were justly their 
property. I am not quite sure that the King him- 
self does not consider we acted rather harshly and 
indefensibly in destroying all the works erected at so 
great a cost of money and labour. 

April 28th.- — The Psyche left at dawn \ and at 



xxi.] SPORTING EXCURSION. 609 

8 a.m. the sportsmen landed, and proceeded to take 
their places in the covers, which were beaten by a 
number of natives. At the first drive a boar was 
seen, but missed by Mr. Czernowitz. In the next, 
Mr. Montagu killed a fine five-year-old boar, about 
30 yards distant. The next drive was blank. 
Towards midday the heat of the sun became ex- 
cessive, and luncheon and rest were indispens- 
able. When sporting was resumed, Colonel Tees- 
dale got a three-year-old boar, and Mr. Kriesis shot 
a doe ; but the Prince had no good fortune, and 
never even saw a wild animal of any kind. It was 
,6.30 when they returned to the Psyche, and arrived 
in the roadstead below the Casino, and landed to 
dinner at 8 o'clock. 

Whilst the sportsmen were away, I was led on a 
most agreeable excursion by M. Yalaority, who in- 
duced La Grande Maitresse, Mde. Theochari, and 
Mrs. Grrey to give us the pleasure of their company. 
We started early (9.30) from the Palace in a heavy 
carriage, drawn by an indomitable pair of Corfiote 
horses, with servant and coachman on the box, and 
a basket of provisions, for Coropiskopous, which we 
reached at 1 o'clock. It is a lovely spot, and the 
road to it — a work of the British occupation — winds 
through enchanting scenery ; but its winding will 

K, E, 



610 M. VALAORITY. [chap. 

soon come to an end, if " somebody " does not 
mend the culverts and fill up the ruts made by water- 
courses, and repair the walls, and clean out the 
waterways. M. Yalaority would be offended if I 
called him an exceptional Greek, but he is a bold, 
prudent, sagacious, honest man, a lover of his 
country, but not a dreamer or an intriguer, full of 
scorn for the corruption and faction which revel on 
the Peninsula — devoted to the King, and still, if 
possible, more attached to the interests of his native 
land. It was worth the reading of many of the 
pseudo-Demosthenico orations of the orators of 
Athens to hear such a man speak of the evils which, 
poison society, check prosperity, and nip the promise 
ere it has budded of the land. Such stories of 
brigands and brigandage as we were told ! The 
Highland caterans were paltry pickpockets compared 
to these rabble robbers, who are the descendants of 
greater robbers, ever since it was easier to take than 
to make — to empty wallets which others had filled 
than to go to the trouble of providing the material 
for filling them. The Greek insurrection was fed by 
brigands, just as the raid to Derby of the Pretender 
was sustained by the clans, who were actuated by 
some loyalty to the Stuarts and by great devotion to 
plunder. There are no brigands on the islands. 



xxi.] COROPISKOPO US. 611 

They would have had a bad time of it with King 
Tom or Napier, or with Storks, tenth and last " Lord 
High:" and indeed the natives of the Septinsular 
State, with all their Hellenic aspirations, affect a 
contempt for the lawless mountaineers of the con- 
tinent, which is encountered by a feeling quite as 
strong on the other side. Under a great tree, which 
I believe was a plateau, we sat by the side of a 
" source," which welled out of a rock, and our table 
was the face of a huge boulder, on which were 
spread out the treasures of our basket. It grieves 
me to say " botargo " was amongst them. There is 
a word like that in Burghersdicius his Logic, which 
always made me ill, and somehow or other botargo 
in the flesh, or rather in the fish, has a similar effect. 
It is dried fish roe, and Mde. Theochari was doomed 
at this season by religious observance to feed princi- 
pally upon it ; but nothing could abate the enjoy- 
ment of such a day in such scenery — sylvan enough 
for Pan himself, and had any satyr come, we would 
have fled and left him our botargo and our blessing, 
taking with us our ham, partridges, oranges, cheese, 
and "Pape Clement." We reached Corfu at 5.30, in 
time to dress for dinner. Just as the carriage was 
approaching the wall, there came by a funeral pro- 
cession. A body of priests in front chanting, then 

R it 2 



612 QUIET HOURS. [chap. 

men and women with wreaths, and chapel boys 
singing and bearing crosses and crosses, then the 
bier on which lay the corpse, a woman dressed gaily 
in the open coffin, with flowers arranged ronnd the 
head, which with their attendant leaves moved at 
every pace of the bearers, and fanned the chill cold 
cheeks as if in mockery. It was not a pleasant 
sight. Close to the city, we met great droves of 
lambs, and learned that they were all to be slain 
in the festival which will take place to-morrow. 

April 29th. — A lovely morning, rendered hideous 
by the ringing of bells. Spiro explained that it 
was all a welcome to to-morrow, which will be 
Good Friday, according to the Greek calendar. 
(He is a cheerful capital fellow, speaks English, 
and talks of the daj^s of our good rule in Corfu, 
when he served Sir Henry Storks, with effusion.) 
No doubt, if we take the present season as a 
specimen of all the year round, Corfu must be 
much livelier as a place of residence than it was 
in our prosaic days, as far as noise is concerned. 
But, as for money-making, ask Mr. Taylor, or the 
first Greek in the streets, or the excellent monarch. 
But, except Mr. Taylor and some gross material- 
ists, they would not lure us back again if they 
could. Bang ! bang ! bang ! Clang ! clang ! clang ! 



xxi.] PRINCE NAPOLEON. 613 

What is this new outbreak ? The Czar's birthday. 
The Queen is the Grand Duke Constantine's fair 
daughter, and so the Czar's birthday was observed by 
salutes from the Russian corvette and the Royal Oak, 
and the shipping and platform battery and the grand 
old citadel are gay with flags. To add to the excite- 
ment, Prince Napoleon arrived in his steam yacht 
this morning, and anchored in the harbour, but did 
not come on shore. As soon as the news was known 
at the Casino, Captain Ellis was sent, in full uniform, 
on board the yacht to welcome Prince Napoleon on 
the part of the Prince of Wales, and to arrange 
for a visit. He was received by an aide-de-camp, 
who took in his message to the Prince's cabin, 
waited some time for a reply, and finally received a 
message that the Prince Imperial would " find some 
way of seeing His Eoyal Highness in the course of 
the day." It struck us all that this was scarcely the 
most courteous or polished way of receiving a British 
officer attached to the Prince of Wales, but the 
Prince Imperial has one attribute of the great Napo- 
leon, at all events, though, with all his great ability, 
he does not see that brusquerie is not a necessary 
proof of greatness, and that what must be borne 
from the victorious master of kings is not becoming 
from one who has neither an army nor a kingdom. 



614 NAVAL INSPECTIONS. [chap. 

In the afternoon the King, Queen, Prince, and 
Princess drove into Corfu from the Casino, and 
went on board the Royal Oak, where they were 
received with all honours — a salute — manned yards 
— the Greek royal standard, and the Prince of 
Wales's flying. Captain Hilly er, whose breast, broad 
as it is, has scarcely room for the display of his 
medals and decorations, and his officers, met the 
Eoyal party at the gangway, whence he conducted 
them to the main deck, where they inspected the 
ship at quarters. The vessel was perfection; every 
gun and slide and metal burnished like jewellery, 
and "Heaven's first law" in full force. The men 
knocked about the big guns to the wonder of the 
landsmen, who, perhaps, did not quite understand 
how difficult it was, seeing how very easy it looked. 
Thence they rowed to the Russian frigate Askiold, a 
wooden ship, armed with old-fashioned smooth-bore 
guns, and not very striking to visitors fresh from the 
British iron-clad. But in one respect there was a, 
marked difference — the captain's saloon and the 
cabins were decorated with handsome paintings and 
engravings. There was the usual portrait of the 
Czar, and one of the Grand Duke Constantine ; there 
were vases of flowers on the table, and a piano and 
music in the officers' room. The crew were fine 



xxi.] THE PRINCES VISITS. CI 5 

stalwart fellows — square, blue-eyed, light-haired. 
Admiral Boutakoff did the honours of the ship, 
which included the usual toasts to Czar, and 
Queen, and King, and it could be seen that the 
Eussians are very proud of the fair lady who has 
come to this little kingdom to share the fortunes of 
her husband, and has left so much state behind her. 
The Royal party once more embarked, and went 
finally to the Ariadne, which the King and Queen 
examined with much interest, returning in her barge, 
towing the marine velocipede which has been made 
a present to the King, to the Casino. The boats 
were aided by the steam launch, and the trip was 
very pleasant. The King left at half-past 4 to 
receive Prince Napoleon at the Palace, and they 
had a short interview, in which the latter asked 
after the Prince and Princess of Wales. Subse- 
quently, His Imperial Highness went out driving 
through the island, and at half-past 6 came to the 
Casino, but the Prince and Princess were not at 
home. He left his cards at the Casino. As we 
were driving from Corfu to dinner, we met the 
Prince, who was returning to his yacht, and thought 
he seemed very unwell. There were several addi- 
tions to the dinner party — Mr. Erskine, Captain 
Hillyer, and others — but it was by no means a 



616 THE PICNIC. [chap. 

"state" banquet, although there was, as there is 
always, a strict observance of the Royal presence 
at table. There is a capital military band on the 
lawn outside, which plays during dinner, and after- 
wards, every evening, and in this climate it is 
delightful to saunter in the grounds, where every 
tree is illuminated by the fireflies, and listen to 
the music, not negligent of the protection afforded 
against fever by the uses of the much-persecuted 
weed of Havannah. 

April 30th.— Prince Napoleon left for Yenice this 
morning at daybreak, so there was no meeting be- 
tween him and the Prince of Wales. We had an 
early breakfast at the Palace, and drove over to the 
Casino, where there was a grand cortege prepared. 
At 12 o'clock the Eoyal party and suite started in 
eight open carriages, with white horses, to the house 
of Count Plamburiari, at Benizze, where a luncheon 
was spread al fresco, under the shade of trellis- 
work covered with fruit. This route must have left 
pleasant memories to many a soldier who served in 
Corfu in days gone by. The drive was in all respects 
delightful, with the single exception of a bad bit of 
road here and there, which gave notice of the coming 
ruin of one of the most valuable results of our rule 
in the island. There seems to be no power to pre- 



xxi.] A DELIGHTFUL DAY. 617 

vent it, or to repair the aqueducts, for the King 
lamented the mischief as strongly as any one. 
The scenery, despite the ugliness of the universal 
olive-trees, which constitute the wealth of the 
island, is rich, tender, and various — a combination 
of sea-coast, wooded cliffs, deep vales, and smooth 
swelling hills covered with dense foliage. The 
Princess was charmed, and was in the best 
possible spirits, and her royal sister-in-law enjoyed 
the picnic with equal pleasure. The repast was ex- 
cellent, and the young King and the Prince were quite 
as full of fun as the youngest of the party. And 
why should they not ? Por they were the youngest, 
with two exceptions. An orange grove, which stood 
temptingly close at hand, furnished abundance of 
missiles for a small military exercise, in which the 
gentlemen, divided into two rival armies, engaged, 
without danger to life or limb, but with some 
damaging effect to head-gear and clothes. A mes- 
senger was dispatched to the Ariadne, and her 
steam-launch and barge were sent round to the little 
bay, one thousand feet below us ; and in them we 
returned to the Casino, after a day to be marked with 
the whitest of chalk. 

May 1st. — If the evil one can be banished by a 
din, which, under the circumstances, cannot be called 



618 ST. SPIRIDION AGAIN. [chap. 

infernal, lie must be many miles from Corfu to-night. 
St. Spiridion was taken out for an airing this morn- 
ing. It may be that these little walks in the Greek 
air do good to the mummy, for, without irreverence 
be it said, it is a mummy after all. There was a 
solemn procession of bishops, priests, and deacons, 
a grand performance of fine music by military 
bands, a display of Volunteers, National Guards, 
and Regulars, a great gathering of the multitude 
in the streets and in the square before the Palace. 
It can no longer be called " Government-house/' 
as it was in the days when there was a Govern- 
ment. They gathered there around St. Spiro about 
9 o'clock, and there was much singing and a good 
deal of praying and self-benediction going on for 
half-an-hour, and after a time St. Spiridion was carried 
off amid his guards and worshippers to rest till his next 
promenade, bands and military vanished, and there 
was a prospect of a quiet day, which the unwary 
were beginning to prepare for, when — lo ! the clock 
struck eleven in many church towers ! Before the first 
clang died away the guns on the platform began to 
fire, the Eussian and the Greek frigates followed 
suite, and then, as if those in a very bad place had 
broken loose, there came from every steeple and 
street and window a tocsin of bells, a rattling of 



xxi.] FRIGHTENING THE EVIL ONE. G19 

pistols, muskets, crackers, a crash of pots, pans, and 
earthenware on the pavement, which fairly made us 
jump in our chairs. No wonder a newly arrived 
colonel in the old days turned out his men, and 
prepared to put down a revolution ! It was per- 
fectly stupendous, and the power of " lasting" and 
" staying " which the authors of the hubbub pos- 
sessed was beyond all mortal endurance. In the midst 
of it the Hellas arrived, with Prince Frederick, from 
Athens, and cannon " thundering terribly swelled the 
gale." But it was only a forte in the concerted piece. 
The soldiers fired off their muskets promiscuously 
all day. Women and children flung crockery from 
the house fronts, and there uprose, and never ceased 
uprising, a cracking and banging and fizzing quite 
sufficient to make men of ordinary nerves desire they 
could go with the Evil Spirit, hurrying out of the 
island, off to some quieter resting-place. For all this 
tumult is made to exorcise the Devil. The row 
was protracted surely long after the object in view 
had been obtained, and the Corfioites had been left 
to their native perfection. "While the charivari was 
going on thousands of lambs were put to death ; 
the people have the Jewish rite of the Passover 
strong upon them ; and as we drove to the Casino 
crosses of fresh blood were visible on the lintels of 



620 THE FAREWELL. [chap. 

the doors and over the windows wherever the owners 
had killed a lamb. In a lull, there was a grand 
tnrn out at the Palace ; and on going to the 
window I saw the little Duke of Sparta, uncon- 
scious of his honours, driven by in the arms of his 
nurse ; and in another moment all Corfu was at it 
again. What the child's impressions of the uproar 
were it was not possible to judge, but he was not 
crying, at all events. There was a large dinner this 
evening, and afterwards the King and Queen retired 
with the Prince and Princess, and conversed apart 
long and earnestly together. Then about 11 o'clock 
the carriages came to the door, and the Eoyal party 
drove to the St. Nicholas Landing-place. As the 
six carriages came to the descent to the sea it 
looked all afire, a long line of men in double row, 
holding up blue, green, and red lights, which illu- 
minated the faces of the people, and brought out of 
the darkness a magic city of many-hued palaces. 
The bands played, the people shouted. The boats 
of the Ariadne and Eoyal Oak at the jetty were 
ablaze with lights, and in the placid water between 
Vido and the shore, the frigates — British, Eussian, 
and Greek — lay in a mirror, which reflected every 
spar and every change in the perpetual eruption of 
rockets from their decks. As the Eoyal party 



xxi.] ILLUMINATIONS. 621 

entered the barge a bouquet of seventy-five rockets 
rushed up from the Ariadne's bow, and spread- 
ing out over a quarter of the heavens, filled them 
for an instant with a myriad constellations. Then, 
amid the cheers of the people, the boats pushed 
off to the Ariadne, which decked herself in incessant 
robes of flame to welcome them, while all the craft 
in the harbour seemed intent on eclipsing her 
astonishing energies. It was a sight not to be 
described and never to be forgotten. The sea became 
like a gorgeous sky at sunset. Out burst along the 
bulwarks, on the yard-arms, and booms of the ships 
of war, globes of many-coloured fires, and as 
these died out, the fountain of flame welled out 
once more, till it was time to give the stars a 
chance. The Prince and Princess went below with 
the King, Queen, and Prince William of Holstein, 
and retired to the boudoir. Admiral Boutakoff 
came on board to pay his respects, and there was a 
general leave-taking among the suites of the King 
and of the Prince. For about an hour the parting 
was deferred by those who had spent such a quiet 
happy week together, but at last the moment came 
when the word that must be spoken could no longer 
be deferred. The King and Queen, the Prince and 
Princess, came up on deck, and walked slowly towards 



622 GOOD-BYE TO GREECE. [chap. 

the gangway where the barge was waiting. There was 
a touching farewell, and as the yonng King, whose 
emotion could not be restrained, stepped over the side, 
a grand cheer hurtled through the air, another flight 
of rockets rent a hundred fiery paths upwards, and 
illuminated, with thousands of unaccustomed stars, 
the pale arch through which the moon was slowly 
sailing. The sight elicited loud cheering from the 
shore and the ships ; then, as the flickering sparks 
trailed downwards and died away, the Ariadne became 
wrapped in darkness, and steamed out of the glare 
into the outer waters, lighted only by the moon. 

Thus we bade good-bye to Greece, to the King, 
who, eyen in Corfu, cannot escape from the cares 
which find their sources at Athens, and from the 
daring councils of men who belieye that if they had 
an cc iron-clad" or two, and a million of money, they 
could drive the Turk out of the Archipelago and the 
southern pashalics, and to the fair young Queen who 
has cast in her lot with that of the Royal Dane. 
The Princess retired below, but the Prince stopped 
on the poop and watched the lights on the receding 
shore. It was a night of exquisite beauty ; the sea, 
like a sheet of glass, shone with amazing brilliancy. 
We were about three-quarters of an hour out from 
the harbour when an accident occurred, which pre- 



xxi.] A MAN OVERBOARD. 623 

sented a sad contrast to the scenes we had just left. 
A cloud had stole over the face of the moon, and the 
ship went on through the darkened sea with no sound 
audible save the throbbing of the screw and the 
gurgle of the water astern. Suddenly we heard a 
<f smack/' as if some flat substance had fallen into 
the sea. As the Prince called out, " What is that ? " 
the terrible cry, " A man overboard ! " came clear and 
strong above the stamp of feet on the deck. Away 
went a life-buoy at once, but it capsized as it touched 
the water, and the light went out. A second life- 
buoy was let go, and floated astern with its fuse 
blazing in the wake of the ship. The Prince rushed 
to the tafTrail, and gazed anxiously into the darkness. 
Not a sound to be heard, not a speck to be seen. 
The Ariadne was speedily stopped : in a few seconds 
her life-boat, in charge of Lieutenant Murray, was 
pulling hard and fast towards the life-buoy. All 
peered into the night in silence, till at last one said, 
" The light is bobbing. Thank God ! he 's saved." 
And there was silence once more. Ten minutes 
passed. 

" Can you see the boat ? " 

"Yes, sir. Here it comes. They have got the 
buoys." 

" Nothing else?" 



624 HE'S LOST, SIR!" [chap. 

" I don't think so, sir ! " 

" Quartermaster, can't you see if there is any one 
with the crew in the boat ? " 

" I can't make out that there is, sir." 

The cloud sailed away from the moon, and the boat 
approached over the silvery sea, towing something 
astern. Eyes were strained through every glass. You 
could hear your neighbour's heart beat. We almost 
leaped when the Captain sang out, " Have you 
got him ? " There was a moment's suspense, ere 
the reply came back, — " He 's lost, sir ! " A low 
murmur ran along the deck — a sickening feeling 
came over us, and from the port of a cabin astern 
a woman's gentle voice was heard, "Is he saved ? " 
Once more the answer, which sounded stern in its 
abruptness, " He's lost, ma'am," returned across the 

water A boy had been 

sent into the mizen shrouds to remove the lamps 
which formed a part of the illumination; and it 
happened one of the buckets at the mizen yard-arm 
fell into the sea while he was so employed. It was 
supposed at first it struck the boy and knocked him 
over, but a sailor, who was beside him on the ratline, 
said the bucket never touched him. Most probably 
the oar on which the "A" was fastened came 
adrift, and the boy fell overboard, striking his 



xxi.] " ON AHEAD —FULL SPEED ! " 625 

head against the chains. He never uttered a cry. 
The indraft of the screw at the place where he 
touched the water is very strong. Prom the de- 
scription, I fancy it was the fair-haired, blue-eyed, 
pleasant-looking lad I had noticed the previous 
Sunday leading the singing at service in the front 
row of the ship's boys. 

"On ahead!" "Full speed!" 

The gloom caused by the loss of the poor boy was 
not dissipated next day. 



POSTSCEIPT. 



The narrative of the visit of the Prince and 
Princess of Wales to the East has reached its legi- 
timate conclusion, and those who have accompanied 
me so long in a journey, in which the tediousness 
of the guide was in some measure, I hope, for- 
gotten and forgiven in consideration of the interest 
inspired by the travellers, are about to separate at 
the end of our journey. I could say much in praise 
of the qualities of our companions if it were not 
that I might lay myself open to the charge of pre- 
sumption or of flattery. Many reflections occurred 
to one in the course of a visit to Courts so dis- 
similar as those of the Sultan and of the King 
of the Hellenes, and to scenes so different as 
those presented by the territory of the Czar, and 
the principality ruled by the Khedive, but they 
could scarcely find place in the account of the 
tour of a Prince of England, who received from all 
an equal and magnificent hospitality. Much of the 



BRINDISL 627 
time, limited as it was by the necessities of State, 
was devoted to ceremony and functions, but the 
Prince and Princess saw nearly all that ordinary 
travellers can see, and a great deal which none of 
inferior rank can hope to behold. 

In the morning we were off the coast of Italy, 
and at 12.30 the Ariadne cast anchor inside the old 
fortress in the harbour of Brindisi, where the Psyche 
had preceded her with the luggage in charge of 
Mr. Kanne. 

The days of Haroun Alraschid are over. If that 
inquiring person were to try a little nocturnal ramble 
in these days, he would see a paragraph in th3 
" Cairo Gazette " next morning — " The Caliph, attired 
as a dervish, and attended by the Grand Vizier, who 
was dressed as a water-carrier, honoured the one-eyed 
calender at the corner of the Ezhekiah with a visit 
last night, ate some sweets, and proceeded to take a 
long ramble through our ancient city/' At the 
landing-place there were General Angelini, A.D.C., 
Baron di Montanaro, Master of the Ceremonies, Count 
Charbonneau, Officier d'Ordonnance, to represent the 
King of Italy ; Winspeare, Duke of Salve, to repre- 
sent the locality ; Count Arrivabene, to represent the 
Chamber of Deputies ; the prefetto and sotto prefetto, 
an escort of cavalry, a guard of honour, a deputation, 

s s 2 



6:28 BRINDIS1. 

to represent themselves ; an inevitable address, and a 
crowd of people. Farewell all hopes of the incognito. 
The King sent his own saloon carriage, and a famous 
cook was despatched from Naples to prepare creature 
comforts eundo. The Meridional of Italy insisted 
on offering a special train gratis to Turin, and guards 
of honour and deputations and addresses w^ere in 
ambush or in the open all along the route, and had 
to be artfully evaded. 

May 3rd. — The Royal train reached Bologna at 
6 a.m., where the British Minister, Sir Augustus 
Paget, was waiting to accompany the travellers to the 
confines of Italy, and halted for a few seconds at 
Parma at 10 a.m., where a guard of honour, band, 
* General of Division and Staff received them. We 
reached Piacenza at 12.45, where there was a crowd 
of officials and unofficials on the platform, and Turin, 
2.40 p.m., where the Prince and Princess alighted. 
The Prince and Princess visited the Prince of Carig- 
nano, the King's uncle, and received the Italian 
officers, Sir A. Paget, and Mr. Mansell at dinner at 
the Hotel de TEurope. 

May 4th. — At 8.30 a.m. left Turin by special 
train, the Prince of Carignano being in attendance to 
bid good-bye at the station. Arrived at Susa in fifty 
minutes, where Mr. Longridge, the Eailway Man- 



THE BRINDIS1 ROUTE. 029 

ager, was in waiting. Changed to the carriages of 
the Mont Cenis Bailway. Narrow, but not uncom- 
fortable. Began the ascent and got to the summit 
at La Grande Croix in two hours. Not much snow 
left. Sir Augustus Paget and Mr. Mansell took 
leave, and went back on foot to Susa. The descent 
commenced. At Lanslebourg, where there was a 
short halt (12.20), there is a buffet, and a very pretty 
lady in waiting. Not far from this is the entrance 
to the Great Tunnel. There is one great objection 
to the Mont Cenis route — the want of air in the 
numerous tunnels and covered ways, which are neces- 
sary to prevent the snow accumulating on the line. 
The blinding and blackening smoke from the locomo- 
tive would be driven into the carriages, if the win- 
dows and doors were not closed the moment the train 
enters these passages, and just as you are enjoying a 
bit of scenery, you are compelled to shut yourself up 
in darkness. The warning whistle for this operation 
is repeated on parts of the line every three or four 
minutes. We were late at Saint Michel, and had 
to hurry over dinner. Count Arrivabene and Cheva- 
lier Brambilla took leave here. The engines, made 
in France, have an unhappy facility in breaking 
down, and at one place we were detained nearly an 



630 PROS AND CONS. 

hour while the -engineers were executing repairs ; but 
the grandeur of the scenery, the novelty of snows 
and glaciers to those who were still brown with the 
suns of Egypt, made amends for the delay. 

The Brindisi route will perhaps become a favourite 
with travellers between India and Western Europe. 
In three or four years, the tunnel will be com- 
pleted, and it remains to be seen how the rail 
over the mountain will fare. For my own part, as 
I have not the least notion of what sea-sickness is 
like, I prefer the comfort and repose of a steamer 
— such, at least, they appear to me — to the heat, 
the cold, the noise, the dust, the rattle, the jar, 
and low fever of a long journey by railroad. Other 
things being equal, I would rather go to Marseilles 
and take the sea, than cross the Alps and travel 
to Brindisi, as the point of departure for Alexandria. 
But constitutions and tastes differ. When Brindisi 
offers tolerable accommodation to the traveller the 
route will certainly be selected by those who desire 
to shorten the journey by twenty-four hours, to 
avoid the sea, or to visit Italy. 

The special arrived at Macon, at 10.50 p.m., 
and was attached to the train which came in from 
the South, the Boyal party arrived at Paris shortly 



HOME AGAIN. 631 

before 9 o'clock a.m., and proceeded to the Hotel 
Bristol. 

On the 12th of May, their Boyal Highnesses 
arrived at Marlborough House at 6.30 p.m., after an 
absence of nearly six months from England. 



i 



Appendix A. 



SCUTAEI CEMETEBY. 

The following is a list of the graves in the ceme- 
tery, with a copy of the inscriptions on each tablet. 



No. 1.} 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Terence H. Wall, 
Assistant Surgeon of 
H.M.S. Leopard. 
Died at Constantinople, 
December 16th, 1855. 

A Tribute of Friendship. 

No. 2.] 

In Memory of 
Alexander McGregor, M.D., 
Deputy Inspector General of 
British Army Hospitals. 
Died at Scutari, 16th November, 1855. 
Aged 45 years. 

No. 3.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Edward Complin, Civil Assistant 
Surgeon, attached to the British Army 
in the Crimea, who died, deeply 
lamented, October 29th, 1855. 
Aged 25 years. 

" Blessed are the dead who die in the 
" Lord." 

No. 4.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Charles Henry Beck, 
Lieutenant 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 
who died 29th September, 1855, 
of wounds received 8th September, 
1855, at the Assault on the Redan, 
Sebastopol. 
Aged 19 years. 

This Stone is placed by his Brother 
Officers. 



No. 5.] 

Mr. William Peake, 
Ordnance Department. 



No. 6.] 

Lieut. Wm. Mendyth Somerville,R. E. 
Died at Scutari, 
3rd September, 1855. Aged 20. 

His illness was contracted in the 
Trenches before Sebastopol. 



No. 7.] 

Captain F. Belson, R.E. 
Died 14th August, 1855. 
Aged 28 years. 

No. 8.] 

The dead shall be raised. 

Reverend Henry John Whitfeld. 
June 18, 1855. 

No. 9.] 

To the Memory of 
Nathaniel Evanson Harrison, 
Lieut. -Col. Commanding R.A., 
4th Division of the British Army 
before Sebastopol. 
Died 12th August, 1855. 
Aged 42 years. 
Deeply regretted by all who knew his 
manly and Christian character, and 
by the Service to which he belonged. 

f< Fight the good fight." 

— 1st Tim., 6 ch., 12 v. 

No. 10.] 

Major Sorell, 
81st Regiment. 



634 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



No. 11.] 

Dr. James A. Wishart, 
Staff Surgeon. 
Died 25th May, 1S55. Aged 33. 

" "With Christ, which is far better." 

—Phil, xii., 3. 
" Thy brother shall arise again." 

—John xi., 23. 

Erected by his Sister. 



No. 12.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
R. SimOins, age 22, Assistant Surgeon, 
who died of Fever, at Scutari, 
April 2Sth, 1855. 



No. 13.] 

Sophia \Yalford, 
Matron, Barrack Hospital, Scutari. 
Entered into rest 30th August, 1855. 
Aged 46. 

"She hath done what she could." 



No. 11.] 

Sophia Barnes, 

Nurse. 
4th April, 1855. 

No. 15.] 

Harvey Ludlow, F.R.C.S. 
Died 4th April, 1855. 
Aged 28. 



No. 16.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Joseph Long, 
4th Company Royal Sappers and Miners, 
who died Mai*ch 21st, 1855. 
Aged 25 years. 

" I am thine, save me." 

Erected by a Comrade. 



No. 17.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Thomas Matthew Hopki, 
1st Officer of the Steam-ship Adelaide, 
Died 18th March, IS 55, of Fever, 
taken whilst in discharge of his 
duty on a Voyage from the Crimea, 
with Invalids. Aged 35 years. 



No. 18. ] 

Dr. Brown. 



No. 19.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Lieutenant Hugh Charles Harriott, 
41st Regiment, 
who died at Scutari on the 
8th December, 1854, 
of a wound received while commanding 

the Light Company of his Regiment 
in the Action of the 26th October, 1854, 
before Sebastopol. 
Aged — years. 

Erected by his Brother Officers. 



No. 20.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
George Henry Hughes, 

Captain 
23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 
"Who was compelled to retire from 
the fatigue of the Siege of 
Sebastopol by illness, of which 
he died at Constantinople, 
11th December, 1851. 
Aged 28 years. 

This Stone is erected by his 
Brother Officers. 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



No. 21.] 

Sacred 

to the Memory of Lt. -Colonel 
J. G. Champion, 95th Regiment, 
who died at Scutari Hospital the 
30th November, 1854, from a wound 
received while gallantly commanding 
his Regiment at the Battle of 
Inkermann on the 5th inst. 

He ever proved himself a thorough 
Gentleman and brave Soldier. 



No. 22.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Thomas Kyd Morgan, 
Lieutenant H. M.'s 63rd Regt., 
Second son of James Morgan 
of the City of Edinburgh 
in Scotland, 
who died at Scutari 11th Dec, 1854, 
of wounds received in the Battle of 
Inkermann. 
Aged 19. 

Erected by an affectionate Mother in 
commemoration of a most dearly be- 
loved Son. 



No. 23.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Staff Surgeon C. Hume Reade, 
who departed this life 
the 28th November, 1854. 
Aged 61 years. 

This Monument is erected by his 
afflicted Wife and Children. 



No. 24.] 

S. M. 

R. H. Payne Crawford, 
Captain H B. M. 90th Regt. 
Died at Scutari 
Feb. 24, 1855. 



635 



No. 25.] 

In Memory of 
Captain Arthur Thistlethwatte, 
Scots Fusilier Guards, 
who expired at 
Scutari Barrack Hospital 
the 26th November, 1854. 

Beloved and Respected. 



No. 26.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
David Anderson, 
Staff Assistant Surgeon, 
native of Dumfries, 
who died at Scutari of Cholera 
on the 4th November, 1854. 
Aged — years. 



No. 27.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Tooset Williams, 
Royal Scots Greys, 
who died Nov. 23rd, 1854. 
"I am thine, save me." 

Psa. cxix. 94. 

From his sincere Friend, C. H. 
Lindsay, Grnr. Guards. 



No. 28.] 

Itt nyugszik 
Guton 
Richard 
Grof, 
Torok F6-Tabornok 
Frankhon ivadeka 
Angolhon Sziiiottge 
Magyarhon Vitezze 
Meghalt October lien, 1S56. 
Elete 
44th Evebea. 



C36 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



No. 29.] 

Erected 

As a mark of respect and esteem, by 
his Brother Officers, 
to the Memory of the 
Lieutenant- Colonel George Ainslie, 
21st Royal British Fusiliers ; 

who died at Scutari, 
on the 14th November, 1854, 
aged 45 years, 
from a wound received when leading 
on the right wing of his regiment at 
the battle of Inkerman, on the 
5th November, 1854. 



No. 30.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Smyth, 
68th Light Infantry, 
who died at Scutari, on the 
28th November, 1854, of a wound 
received at the Battle of Inkermann. 



No. 31.] 

S.M. Aug. F. C. Webb, 
Capt. XVII. Lancers ; 
Wounded at Balaclava, October 25th, 
Died at Scutari, November 6th, 1854. 
Aged xxii. 



No. 32.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Lt. and Adjt. Arthur Dillon Maule, 

88th Connaught Rangers ; 
who died at Scutari, 14th Nov., 1854, 
from the effects of wounds received 
in the Trenches before Sebastopol, 
on the 26th October, 1854. 

This Monument is erected by his 
Brother Officers, as a mark of their 
esteem and affection. 



No. 33.] 

To the Memory of 
Lieutenant Montagu Wigley Bell, 
Lieutenant Josiah Holford, and 
Quarter-Master Samuel Spence, 
who died during the Campaigns of 
1854 and 1855. 

This cross is erected by their Brother 
Officers of H.B.M.'s Twenty-eighth 
Regiment. 1856. 

Also to the Memory of the Non- 
commissioned Officers and Privates of 
H.B.M.'s Twenty-eighth Regiment who 
died during the Campaigns of 1854 
and 1855, before Sebastopol. 

May they rest in peace. 
1856. 



No. 34.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
The Honorable Grey Neville, 
5th Dragoon Guards, 
youngest son of Lord Braybrooke ; 
Died at Scutari, November, 1854, 
of wounds received at Balaclava, 
25th October, 1S54. 
Aged 24 years. 
Surviving by only six days his Brother, 
The Honorable Henry Neville, 
Grenadier Guards, 
Killed at Inkerman, 5th Nov., 1854. 

To the dear Memory of those so 
loved, and early lost, their sorrowing 
Family inscribe this stone. 



No. 35.] 

Harry George Teesdale, 
Lieutenant Royal Engineers ; son of 
Colonel H. G. Teesdale, R.H.A. 
Wounded at Alma. 
Died at Scutari, 
October xxii. , mdcccliv. M. xxiii. 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



637 



No. 36.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Mart F. S. Fhhie&ty, 

Daughter of 
Lieutenant C. Finnerty, 
47th Regiment ; 
who died at Scutari, 
7th September, 1S55. 
Aged 6 months. 

No. 37.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
"William Frederick Vise. Chewtox, 
Eldest son of the Earl Walflegrave, 
Captain Scots Fusilier Guards, 
■who died at Scutari, 
ye 8th of October, 1554, 
Aged 88, 
of wounds received in action, 
■whilst gallantly leading on his men 
at the memorable 
Battle of the Alma, 
20th September, 1854. 

This Tablet is erected 
by his sorrowing Widow. 

No. 38.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Lieutenant T. "W. "VToollocombe, 
47th Regiment, 
who died at Scutari on the 7th Oct. , 
1854, of wounds received at the 
Battle of the Alma. 

No. 39.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 

Axxe Clifford. 
died 29th Sept., 1854. 
Aged 31 years. 

The above is a tribute of esteem to 
a devoted Wife, from an affectionate j 
Husband, of the 50th Queen's Own 
Regiment. 



1 No. 40.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 

W. L . Machish, 
Lieut. 93rd Highlanders, 
who was drowned at Scutari, 
May 19th, 1854. 

This Tablet was erected by his 
Brother Officers. 



No. 41.] 

Sacred to the Memory 
of 

Hesrt Croftox Singer, Lieut. R.A., 
Aged 26 years, 
who was killed in a collision at sea, 
October 2nd, 1854, 
on his return from the Crimea, 
Invalided. 

This Monument is erected by 
his Father, Joseph Henderson Singer, 
Bishop of Meath. 



No. 42.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Slsax Mc.Derjiott. 



No. 43.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 

G-EORGE C003IBES. 



No. 44.] 

A Russian Officer. 



No. 45.1 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Major J. B. Sharpe, 20th Regiment, 
who died at Scutari, 
28th Dec, 1S54, 
of wounds received at the 
Battle of Inkermann. 



638 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



No. 46.] 

Major C. S. Glazbrook, 
49th Regiment of Foot, 
died at Scutari 
the 18th December, 1854, of 
wounds received before 
Sebastopol on the 17th Nov., 1854. 



No. 47.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 

Lucas Ward, Esqre. 
Purveyor to the Forces, 
who died at Scutari, Jan. 1st, 1855, 
after serving his country 46 years. 
Also 

to the Memory of 
Jane Ward, 
Wife of the above, who died at the 
same place, Jan. 3rd, 1855. 

This Monument was erected by the 
members of his Department as a tri- 
bute of esteem and respect for an old 
and faithful Public Officer. 



No. 48.] 

To the Memory of 
Captain John Warren, 55th Eegt. 
Born 23rd June, 1831, 
at Fort St. George, East India. 
Died 22nd November, 1854, 
on board the steamer Victoria, 
off Constantinople. 
He was present at the Battle of 
Alma, 20th Sept., 1854, where he 
was wounded ; Inkermann on the 
26th Oct., and again on the 5th Nov., 
1854. On all these occasions he dis- 
tinguished himself. His death was the 
result of fever, brought on by over- 
exertion after the last batt'e of Inker- 
mann, when doing duty as adjutant of 
his regiment. 



No. 49.] 

Dedicated by his Brother Officers 
to the Memory of 
William Pitcairn Campbell, 
aged 30, 

Major 23rd Eoyal Welsh Fusiliers, 
wounded on the Alma. 
He was appointed a Staff Officer 
at Scutari, and died there of Fever, 
March 22nd, 1855. 

A Christian Soldier, 
finding comfort in death from these 
assuring words of the Saviour, 
in whom he trusted : 
' ' Come unto me all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest."— Matt. 11th ch., 28th v. 

No. 50.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
William Richard Newport Campbell, 
Captain 5th Dragoon Guards, 
who died at Scutari on 
the 23rd December, 1854. 
Having served in the Actions of 
Punniar, Chillianwallah, Goojerat, and 
Balaclava, 
he fell a victim to the hardships and 
privations of the Crimean Campaign. 

This Tablet is erected by his sorrowing 
Mother. 

No. 51.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Major Robert William Colvill, 
late of Her Majesty's 97th Regiment. 
Yielding to the severity of a Winter 
Campaign with the Allied Army 
before Sebastopol, 
he died on the passage from 
Balaclava to the Hospital at Scutari, 
on the 2nd January, 1855, 
aged 42 years, 
Cheerfully terminating his Life 
in his Country's Service. 

A bereaved and sorrowing Sister has 

erected this Tomb as a faint 
Memorial of his private worth and 
excellence. 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



No. 52.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Assistant-Surgeon 
Alexander Struthers, M.D. 
Died at Scutari, 20th January, 1855. 



No. 53.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Frederick A. Macartney, 
Staff Assistant Surgeon, 
who died at Scutari, 
February 12th, 1855. 
Aged 22 years. 

"Jesus saith, I am the Resurrection 
and the Life. He that believeth in 
Me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live." 



No. 54.] 

In Memory of 
John Grabham, 
Assistant-Surgeon 71st Regiment, 
who died at Scutari, 
February 16th, a.d. 1855. 
Aged 24 years. 



No. 55.] 

S.M. 

Rev. George Henry Proctor, 
Chaplain H.M.F., 
Son of George Proctor, D.D., 
Rector of Hadley, 
who died at Scutari, March 10th, 1855. 
Aged 34 years. 

His Parents have placed this Stone. 



No. 56.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
V. Mackesy, Esq., 63rd Regiment, 
Son of J. L. Mackesy, M.D., 
of Waterford, 
who died on the 7th March, 1855. 
Aged 24 years. 

He was a zealous Soldier, and deeply 
regretted by the Officers and Men 
of his Corps. 



No. 57.] 

In Memory of 
Edmund Sidney Wason, Esq., M.D., 
Assistant-Surgeon 1 3th Regt. Light 
. Infantry, only son of 
Edmund Sidney Wason, Esq. , 
late of Merton Hall, Wigtonshire, 
who died in the Hospital at Scutari, 
whilst actively and faithfully 
discharging his too arduous 
professional duties. 
February 8th, 1855. 



No. 58.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Private John Bruce, 
13th Light Dragoons, 
who departed this life, the 
9th of March, 1855. 
Aged 33 years. 

Erected by his affectionate Wife. 



640 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



No. 59.] 

To the Memory of 
The Honble. John William Hely 
Hutchinson, 
Captain 13th Light Dragoons, 
who died at Scutari, July 2nd, 1855. 
Aged 25. 

This Stone is erected by his Brother 
Officers. 

' ' He that believeth in the Son, hath 
life everlasting." — 

John 3, 36. 



No. 60.] 

"W. Saunders, 
Dept. Provt. Marsh. 



No. 61.] 

A Carpenter. 



No. 62.] 

Arthur Ferdinand Platt, 
49th Regt. 
11th August, 1855. 
Aged 20. 



No. 63.] 

John Herring Whitwell, 
of Peterborough, England. 
Born Mar. 15, 1832. 
Died Sept. 2, 1855. 



No. 65.] 

In Memory of 
Henry Arthur Wight, Esq., 
Lieutenant 6th Dragoon Guards, 
eldest Son of the late 
Arthur Wight, Esq. , 
Major 23rd Regt. B. N. I., 
of Braboeuf Manor, near Guildford, 
Surrey, on his passage to England, for 

the recovery of his health. 
He was too ill to proceed, and he 
departed this life on the 23rd Sept., 
1855, aged 19, in Scutari Hospital. 

His loss is deeply lamented by his 
Family and Friends. 



No. 66.] 

Revd. J. Lee. 



No. 67.] 

To the Memory of 
Staff Assist. -Surgeon 
H. W. Wood. 



No. 68.] 

Ensn. Von Ciska, 
German Legion. 



No. 69.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
James Inglis Cochran, 
of the Commissariat Staff, 
who died on the 
20th Dec, 1855. 
Aged 23 years. 



No. 64.] 

Mr. Brown, 
Commt. Dept. 



No. 70.] 

Lieut. Cuple, 
German Legion. 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



641 



No. 71.] 

Doctor Mayne. 



No. 72.] 

To the Memory of 
Mary Marks, 
Nurse. 

Died at the Palace Hospital, 
Scutari, 
Oct. 8th, 1855. 
Aged 47. 



No. 73.] 

Martha Clotjgh. 
Died 

on hoard the Orinoco on her 
passage from the Crimea to 
Scutari. 
September 24, 1855. 



No. 74.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Dispenser Beyerldge. 

No. 75.] 

Doctor Keitel, 
German Legion. 

No. 76.] 

Charlotte Moore. 
Died at the Palace Hospital 
Hyder Pasha, 
22nd Nov., 1855. 

No. 77.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
James Smith. 



No. 78.] 

Fanny A. M. Birt. 
Died Sept. 2nd, 1855. 
Aged 3 years. 



No. 79.] 

Sacred to the Memory 
of 

P. Michael Walsh. 



No. 80.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
John Pattison, 
late 

Second Engineer of the steam-shipAndes, 
in the Transport Service. 
Born at Oathcart, Scotland, 12th 

Oct., 1822. 
Died at Scutari, 30th Dec, 1855. 

This stone marks the place where poor 

Pattison lies ; 
Near this, he resigned his last breath ; 
To heavy affliction he had to comply, 
And yield to the arrow of Death. 

This Stone was erected by his Ship- 
mates, and others of the Cunai'd ser- 
vice, as an appreciation of his worth 
and ability. 



No. 81.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Alfred Henry Cherry, Esq., 
Yety. Surgeon, Royal Dragoons, 
who died at Scutari, 
on the 7th March, 1856. 
Aged 30 years. 



No. 82.] 

In Memory of Surgeons Macaulay 
and Boxall, and Acting Assistant- 
Surgeons Sibbald and Coates, of the 
Anglo-Turkish Contingent. 

Erected by their Brother Medical 
Officers, 1S56. 

T T 



642 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



No. 83.] 

Captain Hyde Parker, 
H. B. M.'s Steam Frigate Firebrand, 
8th July, 1854. 
Removed to this spot 

from Pera, 
9th November, 1863. 



No. 84.] 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Alexander Hamilton, Sergt. R.A., 
who died of cholera on the 20th of 
November, 1855. Aged 31 years. 
Beloved by all who knew him. 

This Stone was erected by his affec- 
tionate "Wife, who is left to lament bis 
loss. 



No. 85.] 

Sacred 

To the Memory of Sergt. John Bailes, 
33rd Regiment, 
who died at the General Hospital, 
16th Nov., 1855. 
Aged 39 years. 

"Blessed are the dead that die in 
the Lord." 



No. 86.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Pte. Frederick Litchfield, 49thRegt., 
who departed this life on 
2nd April, 1855. 
Aged 27 years. 

This Tablet was erected by his be- 
loved and affectionate Wife. 



No. 87.] 

Felim Patrick Byrne. 
Born in the Connaught Rangers. 
Died August 16th, 1855. 
Aged 7 months. 

Requiescat in pace. 

No. 88.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Sergt. J. Cooper, 33rd Regiment, 
who departed this life 19th July, 1855, 
in the 26th year of his age. 

Stay, people, as you pass by ; 
As you are now, so once was I ; 
As I am now, so will you be — 
Prepare for Death, and follow me. 

This Tomb is erected by his brother 
Non-commissioned Officers, as a mark 
of esteem and respect towards him. 
D. A. T. 



No. 89.] 

I N— R I 

Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Henry Abernethey, 
Native of Wexford, Ireland, 
Stoker, Great Britain Steam-ship, 
who departed this life 17 July, 1855. 
Aged 50 years. 

May he rest in peace. 

His Shipmates' last token of Friend- 
ship. 

No. 90.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Charles Platt, 
late Steward of the Harem Hospital. 
Died 22 May, 1855. 
Aged 29 years. 

"Prepare to meet thy God." 



SCUTARI CEMETERY. 



C43 



No. 91.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Captain H. E. Smith, 
of the ship "Chalmers," 
who departed this life 21st June, 1855. 
Aged 51 years. 

" The Lord gave, and the Lord hath 
taken away ; blessed be the name of 
the Lord." 

No. 92.] 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Trumpet-Major Francis Johnson, 
12th Royal Lancers, 
who departed this life on the 

22nd December, 1855, 
in the 35th year of his age. 

This Stone was erected by the Non- 
commissioned Officers of the 13th 
Light Dragoons, as a mark of respect. 



No. 93.] 

I. H. S. 

Sacred to the Memory of 
The Soldiers of the 8th & 10th Hussars, 
17th Lancers, 
and 

Land Transport Corps 
of the British Army, 
who died at Ismid, 
during the Winter of 1855-6, 
after the fall of Sebastopol. 

Erected by their Comrades. 



The National Monument bears the following in- 
scription : — 

of the 

OFFICERS AND MEN 
of the 

BRITISH ARMY AND NAVY, 

who in the War against Russia, 
in 1854, 1855, and 1856, 
Died for their Country. 
This Monument 
was raised by 

QUEEN VICTORIA 

and her People, ■ 
1857. 



The same is in Turkish on the back panel ; in French on the right ; in Italian 
on the left. 



T T 2 



Appendix B. 



The following particulars concerning the Memorial 
Church erected on the north side of Sebastopol 
Bay, over the principal cemetery, sacred to the 
memory of the Bussians who fell defending the 
city during the siege may be interesting. 



Principal Dimensions of the Church. 



Length of the Base 
Height from the Base to the Cross 
Height of the Grand Cross 
Weight of the Cross 



63 feet. 
105 „ 
23 „ 
about 16 tons. 



Designer and Architect or the Church : — A. A. Ardier. 

Painter Artists : — T. A. Kabanof, A. E. Korne'ir, M. N. Vasilier, 
A. D. Litortchenko, Geneve. 



Decorator :— Raphael Tselly. 

The inscriptions on the black marble plates on the outside walls of the Church 
are translated as follows : — 



Division, or Brigade. 



West (or entrance) Side, Left 
Plate. 

4th Infantry Division : — 

Belosersky Line Regiment 

Olonetsky ,, ,, 

Shlisselbourgsky Light Regiment... 

Ladojsky ,, „ 

5th Infantry Division: — 
.Arxhangelogorodsky H. T. H. 
Grand Due Wladimir Alesan- 
drowitch's Line Regiment 

Vologodsky Line Regiment 

Kostromskoy Light Regiment 

Galitsky ,, 

6th Infantry Division • — 
Mouromsky Line Regiment 



Time in Garrison. 



Aug. 5 to Aug. 
1855. 



Aug. 24 to Aug. 
1855. 



Aug. 26 to Aug. 27 
Aug. 26 to Aug. 27 



27, 



27, 



, 1855. 
, 1855. 



May 7 to Aug. 27, 1855. 



Loss in Men. 



950 
1,604 
919 
924 



24 
54 
273 
307 

2,371 



MEMORIAL CHURCH. 



645 



Division, or Brigade. 



West Side, Right Plate. 
7th Infantry Division : — - 
Smolensky Line Regiment .. 
Mohilersky ,, 

Vitebsky Light Regiment . . 
Polotsky ,, ,, 



8tk Infantry Division : — 

Tchernigorsky, Count Diebietch Za- 
balkansky's Line Regiment 

Poltarsky ,, 

Alexopolsky Light Regiment 

Kremetchougsky , , , , 



9th Infantry Division : — 

Eletsky Line Regiment 

Sersky „ ,, 

Briansky Gr. A. Prince Gfortcha- 
kof 's Light Regiment 

Orlorsky, General Fieldmarshal 
Prince Warshavsky Count Pas- 
kiewitch Erivansky's Light Re- 
giment 

10th Infantry Division : — 

Ekaterinbourgsky Line Regiment 
Tobolsky ,, ,, 

Tomsky Light Regiment 

Koliransky ,, 



Time in Garrison. 



South Side, Left Plate. 

11th Infantry Division — 
Selenginsky Line Regiment . . . 



Sakoutsky 



Okhotsky Light Regiment 



Kamtchatsky 



12th Infantry Division : — 

Azorsky Line Regiment 

Dneprovsky 

Oukrainsky Light Regiment 



) July 23 to Aug. 2, 
\ 1855. 

July 22 to Aug. 1, 
1855. 



April 9 to Aug. 27, 1855. 

April 7 to Aug. 27, 1855. 
April 4 to Aug. 27, 1855 
April 2 to Aug. 27, 1855. 



) June 3 to Aug. 27, 
) 1855. 

May 27 to Aug. 27, 1855. 
April 23 to Aug. 27,1855. 



Oct. 22, 1854, to 
Aug. 27, 1855. 

Oct. 22, 1854, to 
Aug. 27, 1855. 



/Nov. 5,1854, to Aug. 
\ 27, 1855. 

\ Nov. 6, 1854, to Aug. I 
\ 27, 1855. 

) Nov. 5, 185 4, to Aug. 
\ 27, 1855. 

Nov. 9,1854, to Aug. 
27, 1855. 



April 20 to Aug. 27. 
April 6 to Aug. 27. 
March 16 to Aug. 27. # 
March 30 to Aug. 27. 



2,811 
1,887 
1.799 
2,830 



418 
868 
900 
601 



646 



MEMORIAL CHURCH. 



Division, or Brigade. 



Time in Garrison. 



Loss in Men. 



South Side, Eight Plate. 

lith Infantry Division: — 
Yolinsky Line Regiment 

Minsky „ „ 

Podolsky Liglit Regiment 
Yitomirsky Line Regiment .... 



Oct. 19, 1854, to 

Aug. 27, 1855. 
Sept. 27, 1854, to 
( Aug. 27, 1855. 

J April 20 to Aug. 27, 
I 1S55. 



ltith Infantry Division : — 

Wladimirsky Line Regiment March 25 to Aug. 27. 

Susdalsky ,, March 13 to Aug. 27. 

Oct, 5, 1854, to Aug. 
27, 1855. 

Kazansky, H. T. H. Grand Due March 9 to Aug. 27. 
Michel Xikolae wick's Light Re^ 
giment 



Ouglitsky Light Regiment 



17 th Infantry Division : — 
Moskorsky Line Regiment 

Boutirsky ,, ,, 



Borodinsky, H. T. Majesty's Light 
Regiment 



( Sept. 19, 1854, to 
I Jan. 17, 1855. 

Sept. 23, 1854, to 
Jan. 17, 1855. 

Sept, 19, 1854, to 
Aug. 27, 1855. 



Taroutinsky Light Regiment ' J Sept. 17, 1854, to 

j ( Aug. 27, 1855. 



East Side, Left Plate. 

I 

l'Zth Infantry Division, Reserved 



Brigade : — 
5th and 6th Battalions, Bretsky's 



Sept. 13, 1854, to Aug. 2< 
1855. 



and Belostoksky's line, Litor- 
sky's and Yilensky's Light Re- 
serve Regiments 

4th Rifle Battalion Nov. 5, 1854, to Aug. 27. 

6th ,, ,, Unknown. 

3rd Battalion of Sappers April 23 to Aug. 27. 

4th ,, ,, Oct. 24, 1854, to Aug. 27. 

6th ,, ,, Sept. 13,1854, to Aug. 27. 

Right Plate. 

1th Infantry Div. Reserve Brig. : — 

6thBattalionsYolinskay's andMin- Sept. 20, 1854, to Aug. 27, 
sky's Line Reserve Regiments \ 1855. 



1,687 



MEMORIAL CHURCH. 



647 



Division, or Brigade. 



loth Reserve Infantry Division : — 
Modlinskay Reserve Line Regiment 
Dragsky ,, „ „ 
Lublinsky ,, Light ,, 
Zamostsky ,, ,, 
4th Rifle Battalion 



6th „ 

3rd Battalion Sappers 
4th 



Time in Garrison. 



6ch 



lQth Artillej'y Brigade: — 
No. 1 Heavy Field Battery 
No. 2 „ „ 
No. 1 Light Field Battery 
No. 2 „ „ 



North Side, Left Plate. 

11th Artillery Brigade : — 
No. 3 Light Field Battery . . 
No. 4 „ „ „ 
No. 5 ,, 



V2&h Artillery Brigade:— 
No. 7 Light Field Battery 
No. 8 „ „ 
Ho. 9 , , , , * , 



| June 17 to Aut 
I 1855. 



June 20 to Aug. 27, 1855. 

June 20 to Aug. 27, 1855. 

Nov. 5, 1S54, to Aug. 27, 
1855. 

Not marked. 

April 23 to Aug. 27, 1855. 

Oct. 24, 1S54, to Aug. 27, 
1855. 

Sept. 13, 1854, to Aug. 27, 
1855. 



Oct. 24 to Oct. 27, 1854. 
Oct. 2 to Oct. 26, 1854. 
April 27 to Aug. 27, 1S55. 
Oct. 29, 1854, to Aug. 27, 
1855. 



April 1 to Aug. 27, 1855. 
April 27 to Aug. 27, 1855. 
Nov. 14, 1854, to Aug. 27. 
1855. 



1 June 11 to Aug. 27, 
J 1S55. 

June 22 to Aug. 27, 185, 



lUh Artillery Brigade: — 

No. 4 Light Field Battery I Sept/13 to Nov. 15, 1854. 

No. 6 ,, ,, ,, Oct. 24 to Nov. 15, 1S54. 



16th Artillery Brigade: — 
No. 1 Heavy Field Battery 
No. 1 Light Field Battery 

17th Artillery Brigade : — 
No. 4 Light Field Battery 

No 5 ,, 



Sept, 13 to'Oct. 24, 1854. 
Oct. 24 to Nov. 15, 1854. 



' Sept. 13 to Oct. 31, 1854; 
j July 22 to Aug. 27, 1855. 

Sept. 13 to Oct. 25, 1S54, 
| June 17 to Aug. 27,1855. 



643 



MEMORIAL CHURCH. 



Division, or Brigade. 



Right Plate. 

No. 2 Battalion of the Black Sea 
Infantry Cossacks. 

No. 8 Battalion of the Black Sea 
Infantry Cossacks. 

No. 47) 

I Militia Battalions of the ) 



[ Koursk Government. ) 



No. 48 
No. 41 J 

Battalion of the Greek Volunteers 

Companies of Sebastopol Garrison 
Artillery. 

Navy. 

Ships' Crews (les equipages des 
vaisseaux) Nos. 29, 30, 31, 32, 
33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 
41, 42, 43, 44, and 45.* 

Marine Invalids No. 4 

Dockyard Workmen's Companies 
(les ouvriers de l'arsenal), Nos. 
17, 18, and 19 

Arsenal and Laboratory Labourer's 
Companies. 

Convict Companies 



Time in Garrison. 



Sept. 20, 1854, to April 24, 
1855. 

Sept. 20, 1854, to May 5, 
1855. 



Aug. 22 to Aug. 27, 1855. 



Mar. 1 to Aug. 27, 1855. 

Sept. 13, 1854, to Aug. 27, 
1855. 



Sept. 13, 1854, 
\ to 

Aug. 27, 1855. 



Loss in Men. 



* Note. — Each ship's crew was originally 1,000 men strong, and used to man 
— one line-of-battle-ship and one frigate ; or one line-of-battle-ship and three or 
four minor men-of-war ; or two frigates and two or three minor men-of-war. 

A Russian Infantry Division was composed of two brigades — one line and one 
light ; each brigade of two regiments, and each regiment of four battalions, 1,000 
men strong each. 



Appendix C. 



The following is a copy of the Address presented by 
the Pera Deputation. 

TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES. 

May IT PLEASE YOUR Eoyal Highness, — The 
undersigned, on behalf of the British community 
of Constantinople, desire to offer to your Eoyal 
Highness and the Princess of Wales the expres- 
sion of their respectful and hearty welcome, on the 
occasion of this your second visit to the Turkish 
capital. 

Though for the greater part permanently resi- 
dent in the Levant, and thus removed from the 
immediate influences which have contributed so 
much to develop and strengthen the affectionate 
loyalty with which Her Majesty and every member 
of the Eoyal family are universally regarded at 
home, the British community of Constantinople 
yields to no other section of Her Majesty's subjects 
in devoted attachment to her throne and person. 

While, therefore, most cordially welcoming your 
Eoyal Highness and the illustrious lady who has 
won for herself so conspicuous a place in the affec- 
tions of the British people, the undersigned avail 



650 



THE PERA ADDRESS. 



themselves of the opportunity which doing so 
affords to place once more on record their senti- 
ments of loyal devotion to Her Most Gracious 
Majesty the Queen. 

On behalf of the British community of Constan- 
tinople. 

Constantinople, April 2, 1869. 



Mr. Hanson, of the Bank, an old and respected 
resident of Constantinople, whose name must be 
known to every British officer who served in the 
Crimea, was the spokesman on the occasion. 

The Prince of "Wales made a reply in very gracious 
terms, and expressed his pleasure at the allusion 
made to Her Boyal Highness, and his sense of the 
feeling which animated the address. 



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